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THE LAW 



OF 



MENTAL MEDICINE 



BOOKS BY 


Thomson J. 


HudsoUy LL.D. 


The Law of 


Psychic Phenomena. 


Approaching its both thousand, $1.50 


A Scientific 


Demonstration of 


THE Future 


Life. 


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The Divine Pedigree of Man. 


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THE LAW 



OF 



MENTAL MEDICINE 



THE CORRELATION OF THE FACTS OF PSYCHOLOGY 

AND HISTOLOGY IN THEIR RELATION 

TO MENTAL THERAPEUTICS 



BY 



THOMSON JAY HUDSON, Ph.D., LL.D. 

AUTHOR OF "THE LAW OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA," 
"THE DIVINE PEDIGREE OF MAN/' ETC. 




CHICAGO 

A. C. McCLURG & CO. 
1903 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

MAV 22 1903 

^ Copyright Entry 

I CUSS O/ xXc. No 

COPY A. 









Copyright 
By a. C. McClurg & Co. 

A.D. 1903 

Published May 23, 1903 



T\ 



M 



UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON 
AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



TO 

THE HONORABLE 

DON MANUEL DICKINSON 

IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF A FRIENDSHIP 

THAT, FOR A PERIOD OF TIME EXCEEDING 

THE AVERAGE LIFE OF MAN, - 

HAS KNOWN NO VARIABLENESS OR SHADOW OF TURNING, 

IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 



PREFACE 

THE object of this book is, primarily, to assist 
in placing mental therapeutics on a firmly 
scientific basis, and incidentally to place within the 
reach of the humblest intellect the most effective 
methods of healing the sick by mental processes. 

Part I. contains nothing new to the scientific 
world, except, perhaps, the method of treatment. It 
pertains solely to the psychological principles of 
mental medicine. These were outlined in my first 
work, entitled *' The Law of Psychic Phenomena," 
ten years ago, and they are now taught in every 
reputable school of suggestive therapeutics. The 
reader will find, however, that the subject is by no 
means exhausted, and that the law of suggestion is 
the most important factor in man's mental make-up. 

In Part II. the fact is for the first time recognized 
that no hypothesis can possibly embrace a complete 
science of mental therapeutics that fails to take cog- 
nizance of those facts of physiology and histology 
which pertain to the subject-matter. Necessarily, 
the subjective mind, when it exercises its powers 
over the body, in health and disease, operates through 
instrumentalities; that is to say, there must exist a 
physical mechanism through which the mind oper- 
ates, and that mechanism must necessarily be adapted 



vin PREFACE 

to its uses. Moreover, we might reasonably expect 
that the mechanism, when found, would be so ob- 
viously adapted to therapeutic uses as to leave no 
doubt in the mind of the investigator. Accordingly 
we find in man a physical structure so obviously 
adapted to the uses of mental healing that it leaves 
one in doubt whether or not all therapeutic agencies, 
in their ultimate analysis, may not be classed as 
mental. Be that as it may, it is obvious that a cor- 
relation of the facts of psychology and histology 
must lead to some very valuable discoveries, not 
alone in the field of mental therapeutics, but in all 
branches of inquiry where the control of the body 
by the mind is a factor. A few of these discoveries 
are outlined in the following pages. Without stop- 
ping to enumerate them in detail, I think I am jus- 
tified in claiming to have thrown much light upon 
some very obscure problems ; for instance, the method 
of healing which in ancient times was known as "the 
laying on of hands,'' and in modern times has been 
designated as " animal magnetism," " mesmerism," 
etc. I have also incidentally touched upon the prob- 
lem of natural sleep, and I have tentatively suggested 
a solution of the world-old problem. What are the 
physical changes that produce the phenomenon of 
unconsciousness during natural sleep? If my hy- 
pothesis is correct on this question, it simplifies the 
whole subject-matter, and throws a flood of light 
upon hypnotism and all other forms of artificial 
sleep. 

In pursuing my investigations of the physical 
sciences bearing upon the question of mental heal- 
ing, I have been careful to confine myself to authori- 



PREFACE IX 

ties which are recognized by the modern scientists 
of the medical profession; and I here take occasion 
to acknowledge my indebtedness, fearing that in the 
hurry of writing I may have failed to give credit 
where credit is due. The principal works consulted 
are the following: Gray's Anatomy; Landois and 
Stirling's Text-book of Human Physiology; Bohm- 
Davidoff's Text-book of Histology; Green's Pathol- 
ogy and Morbid Anatomy; Dunham's Histology, 
Normal and Morbid; Stephens's Pluricellular Man; 
Hilton's Lectures on Rest and Pain; Halleck's Edu- 
cation of the Central Nervous System; Robinson's 
The Abdominal Brain; Romanes' Mental Evolution 
in Animals; Romanes' Animal Intelligence; Ave- 
bury's (Sir John Lubbock) Ants, Bees, and Wasps; 
Binet's The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms; 
Haeckel's The Evolution of Man; Ochorowicz's 
Mental Suggestion. 

T. J. H. 

Detroit, Mich., May i, 1903. 



CONTENTS 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN 
MENTAL HEALING 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

Page 
Ancient Superstitions. — All Diseases referred to Bad Spirits. — 
All Healing of Disease credited to Good Spirits. — Innumerable 
Theories of Causation prevalent among Primitive Peoples. — 
Many of them still survive in Modified Forms ; some of the most 
grotesque being extremely popular in the midst of the Highest 
Civilization. — All Systems, Ancient and Modern, have been 
successful in healing the Sick. — This Fact alone challenges 
the Attention of Science. — It indicates the Existence of a Law 
pertaining generically to all Systems. — No Logical Connection 
between Theories of Causation and the Results produced ; other- 
wise all Systems, from Fetichism to the most Modern Modifica- 
tion of that System, would be able to *^ demonstrate " their 
Theories. — The Logic of Primitive Minds the same in all the 
Ages. — The Question of Mental Healing is primarily a psycho- 
logical one ; hence the Necessity of studying the Fundamental 
Principles of Psychology as a Basis of a Correct Theory of 
Causation. — Recent Discovery of a Primary Intelligence below 
the Threshold of Normal Consciousness enables us to study the 
Subject inductively. — The Facts of Physiology and Histology 
reveal the Rationale of Mental Healing. — It is unnecessary to 
antagonize Established Systems of Material Therapeutics. — 
We are indebted to Doctors of Medicine for much of the Knowl- 
edge which enables us to formulate a Rational Theory. — The 
Correlation of all the Facts of Psychology and Physiology is 



xu CONTENTS 

Page 
necessary for placing Mental Therapeutics on a Scientific Basis. — 
Many Medical Men employ the Methods of Suggestive Therapeu- 
tics in their Daily Practice. — The Discovery of the Law of Sug- 
gestion by a Number of the Medical Profession was the first 
Great Step in the Direction of a True Explication of Mental 
Therapeutics. — The next Great Step was its Generalization 
under the Law of the Duality of Mind. — The Correlation of all 
the Facts of Mental and Physical Science is therefore essential . 3 



CHAPTER II 

FIRST PRINCIPLES 

Mental Healing is not a Religion. — The Example of Jesus is con- 
clusive on that Point. — Nothing Supernatural in Mental Medi- 
cine. — The Power that Heals resides within the Patient. — This 
was the Doctrine taught by Jesus and epitomized in the Words 
" Thy Faith hath made Thee whole." — The Word " Faith," as 
he employed it, means not only ** Belief" or ** Confidence," but 
includes all the Spiritual Energies of the Human Soul. — It is 
not only prerequisite to Success in Mental Healing, but is a 
Dynamic Energy, besides. — Modern Science has succeeded only 
in demonstrating the Scientific Accuracy of the Master's Knowl- 
edge of Mental Therapeutics. — The Whole Art of Mental Heal- 
ing consists in knowing how to induce the Condition of Faith 
in the Patient. — The Fundamental Psychological Principles 
involved. — Suggestion a Universal Law of the Subjective Mind. 

— Limitations of Subjective Powers of Reasoning. — False and 
True Suggestions. — Potency of Auto-Suggestions. — Moral Prin- 
ciples constitute Auto-Suggestions. — Resistance to False Sug- 
gestions. — Effectiveness of Suggestion not dependent upon the 
Hypnotic Condition. — Passivity of the Mind the Equivalent of 
Hypnosis for Therapeutic Purposes. — Suggestions based upon 
Scientific Truth are most effective. — The Third Fundamental 
Psychological Principle . 16 

CHAPTER III 

THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 

The Intelligence that controls the Functions of the Body in Health 
thePoweror Energy that requires Assistance in Case of Disease. 

— The Body a Confederation of Micro-organisms controlled by 
this Central Intelligence. — It is a Mental Organism that all 
Therapeutic Agencies are designed to energize.-— Mental Thera- 



CONTENTS xni 

Page 
peutic Agencies the Primary and Normal Means for this End. — 
Physical Agencies not excluded. — A Mental Stimulus more 
direct and positive than a Physical One. — Material Remedies 
Good and Legitimate Forms of Suggestion. — Whether Reme- 
dies are Material or Mental, they must energize the Central 
Controlling Intelligence. — The Therapeutic Value of all Agen- 
cies proportioned to their Power to stimulate the Subjective 
Mind. — Suggestion the Prepotent Therapeutic Energy. — This 
is the Law of Mental Healing. — The Teleological Argument to 
be drawn from the Law of Mental Medicine. — None other so 
demonstrative of Divine Benevolence. — Absence of Fear and 
Pain at the Moment of Dissolution. — This Phenomena, con- 
sidered together with the Law of Mental Healing, possesses a 
Teleological Significance. — The Law of Mental Healing is uni- 
versal and adapted to every Grade of Human Intelligence. — 
Antiquity of Suggestion as a Therapeutic Agent. — Its Myriad 
Forms. — All effective in proportion to their Faith-Inspiring 
Potency. — Scientific Significance of the Beliefs and Practices 
of Primitive Humanity. — All were useful, and each was adapted 
to some Special Grade of Intelligence. — Primitive Minds still 
exist in the Highest Modern Civilization with Corresponding 
Powers of Reasoning. — Current Beliefs adapted to Varying 
Grades of Intelligence. — Their Religious Features Potent Factors 
in their Success. — Systems based upon Error less efficacious 
than one founded upon Truth. — Nearly all refer the Healing 
Power to Extraneous Sources, an Error which Jesus insistently 
controverted 31 



CHAPTER IV 

THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 

Faith can be acquired by Study and Reasoning. — Thus acquired, 
it is perfect and permanent. — It is essential that the Healer be 
grounded in the Fundamental Principles of his Science. — The 
Phenomena of Dreams point to the Theory of the Dual Mind. — 
The Operations of the Dream Litelligence essentially different 
from those of Waking Consciousness. — The Subjective, or 
Dream Intelligence incapable of Inductive Reasoning, and con- 
trolled by Suggestion. — Rapidity of Subjective Mentation. — 
Hypnotism a Means by which Dreams can be induced, con- 
trolled, and experimented with. — It is the Instrument for the 
Investigation of the Problems of Psychology. — It has found in 
Man a Soul, and revealed the Evidence of its Divine Origin. — 



xiv CONTENTS 

Page 
It has segregated the Phenomena of the Objective and Subjec- 
tive Minds, and shown the Distinctive Powers and Limitations 
of Each 51 

CHAPTER V 

THE LAW OF SUGGESTION (HISTORICAL) 

A Law must be formulated in Terms indicating Universality before 
it can be made available for Scientific Purposes. — Antagonism 
of Conservative Science. — Opposition to Newton's Discovery. 

— The Laws of Duality of Mind and of Suggestion dimly per- 
ceived for Ages. — The two Laws Necessary Concomitants of 
each other. — The Recognition of their Relation a Prerequisite 
of their Formulation. — Jesus the First to promulgate the Law 
of Mental Healing. — His Declaration of the Therapeutic Potency 
of Faith confirmed by Modern Science. — Braid's Experiments 
in Hypnotism. — Liebault's Discovery of the Law of Suggestion. 

— This Law incomplete without the Law of Dual Mind. — The 
Importance of the Law of Suggestion outside the Field of Thera- 
peutics 64 

CHAPTER VI 

SUGGESTION IN LOWER ANIMAL LIFE 

Evidence for the Laws of Duality of Mind and of Suggestion must 
be found in Lower Animals. — The Subjective the Primordial 
Mind. — The Brain a Product of Evolution. — The Subjective 
the Mind of Instinct and Intuition. — Necessity for Secondary 
Instincts. — Induction in Lower Animals. — Secondary Instincts 
created by the Objective Mind. — The Mental Processes In- 
volved. — All Evolutionary Development of Animal Intelligence 
due to Suggestion. — The Law of Suggestion an Essential Factor 
in the Progress of Civilization. — It is the One Available Means 
whereby Man may neutralize the Evils due to Heredity ... 81 

CHAPTER Vn 

SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 

The more Beneficent a Law of Nature, the Heavier the Penalty for 
its Violation. — This Axiom as applicable to Laws of Life, Mind, 
and Health as to any other Law. — Exemption of the Lower 
Animals from Suggestions Adverse to Health. — Man the Prey 
of such Suggestions. — The Potency of Adverse Suggestions 
equal to that of Therapeutic Suggestions. — The Newspaper 



CONTENTS XV 

Page 
an Agency for the Promulgation of Suggestions Adverse to 
Health. — The Patent-Medicine Advertisement. — The Danger 
of Adverse Suggestions to Students of Medicine. — Newspaper 
Literature relating to Diet. — Permcious Dietetics. — Auto- Sug- 
gestion the Safeguard 93 

CHAPTER VIII 
** puritanical'* diet and medicine 

Asceticism of our Puritan Ancestors. — Tendency of Primitive 
Minds to reason by Analogy. — Influence of Asceticism on 
Dietetics. — The Appetite usually a Safe Guide. — Dyspepsia 
often caused by Suggestion. — The Principle of Asceticism in 
the Old Medical Practice. — Importance of the Law of Sug- 
gestion in Connection with Diet and Medicine 115 

CHAPTER IX 
auto-suggestion 

The Fundamental Psychological Principles restated. — Fatal Po- 
tency of Fear in Epidemics. — Pathological Power of " Expectant 
Attention." — Appendicitis. — Any Disease that can be induced 
by Suggestion can be avoided by Counter-Suggestion or by 
ignoring Adverse Suggestion. — Avoidance of Adverse Sugges- 
tion. — Suggestion in Connection with Habitual Drunkenness 
and Dipsomania. — Counter-Suggestion as a Prophylactic. — 
Danger of Injudicious Sympathy. — False Dietetic Suggestions 
to Children 130 



part tIPtDo 

THE CORRELATION OF THE FACTS OF 

PSYCHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN CONNECTION 

WITH MENTAL HEALING 

CHAPTER I 

introductory 

The Facts of Psychology and Physiology to be Correlated. — All 
Organic Tissue composed of Intelligent Microscopic Cells. — 
Disease of the Body is Disease of the Cells of the Body. — The 
Cells amenable to Control by the Subjective Mind. — The Fluidic 



XVI CONTENTS 

Page 
Theory of Mesmerism. — The Nancy School. — The Force or 
Energy which controls the Bodily Functions a Mental Energy. — 
It operates upon the Subordinate Intelligent Cells through the 
Nerves. — Histionic Suggestion. — The Nerves the Mechanism 
for the Conveyance of Therapeutic Impulse from Healer to 
Patient. — Histionic Suggestion effective without Hypnotism and 
in Defiance of Adverse Auto-Suggestions i6i 

CHAPTER II 

THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH MENTAL HEALING 
IS EFFECTED 

Evidence for a Duplex Mechanism corresponding to Dual Mental 
Organism furnished by Anatomy and Histology. — Historical 
Sketch of the Science of Histology. — Cells and Cytods. — Uni- 
cellular and Pluricellular Organisms. — The Various Species of 
Body-Cells and their Functions. — The Body a Confederation of 
Groups of Cells. — Every Body-Cell a Mind Organism endowed 
with Intelligence Commensurate with its Function. — The Con- 
federated Cells dominated by a Central Intelligence. — The 
Influence exercised by the Controlling Intelligence a Mental 
One 179 

CHAPTER III 

THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH MENTAL HEALING 
IS EFFECTED {Continued^ 

The Cerebro-Spinal and the Sympathetic Nervous Systems. — The 
Former controls the Voluntary Movements and is dominated by 
the Objective Mind. — The Latter controls the Involuntary 
Movements and is dominated by the Subjective Mind. — The 
Subjective Mind can usurp the Functions of the Cerebro-Spinal 
System. — The Objective Mind powerless to control directly a 
purely Involuntary Muscle. — A Nexus between the two Nervous 
Systems corresponding to that between the two Minds. — The 
Nerve Connections between the two Systems enable the Objective 
Mind to communicate its Therapeutic Suggestions to the Sub- 
jective. — The Pseudopodia of Unicellular Organisms. — Pro- 
toplasmic Filaments the Means of Communication between 
Body-Cells. — This is effected by Physical Contact. — The Nerve 
and Brain Cells highly specialized for this Purpose. — Being 
Mind Organisms, the Energy involved in the Transmission of 
Sensation is a Mental One 194 



CONTENTS xvu 

CHAPTER IV 

THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 

Page 
Analgesia induced by Hypnotism or by Suggestion. — If Sensation 
is transmitted by Means of Physical Contact of the Filaments of 
the Nerve Cells, it follows that Interruption of Contact will 
inhibit Sensation. — These Filaments are retractile. — The Sub- 
jective Mind, by causing their Retraction, can inhibit Sensation. 

— The Phenomenon of Analgesia in the Presence of Death or 
Deadly Peril. — Catalepsy. — The Theory of Mental Medicine 
comprehended in the Words " Stimulation " and '^ Inhibition." 

— The Effects of Material Medicines mainly limited to these 
Two. — The Principle of Homoeopathy. — Necessity for the 
Correlation of Psychology and Histology in the Study of Thera- 
peutics . . . , 206 

CHAPTER V 

INHIBITION AND SLEEP, NATURAL AND INDUCED 

The Various Hypotheses advanced to account for the Phenomenon 
of Sleep. — The Power of Inhibition possessed by the Subjective 
Mind an Adequate Explication. — The Powers of Stimulation 
and Inhibition correlative. — The Alternation of Work and Rest 
a Law which pertains to all the Cells of the Body. — The Isola- 
tion of the Brain Cells from Contact with Each Other the 
Cause of Unconsciousness. — A Universal Law of Inhibition 
comprehended in the Formula " Segregation of Cells." — Natu- 
ral and Induced Sleep identical. — Hypnotism but a Concomitant 
of the Power to induce Natural Sleep 224 

CHAPTER VI 

ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, AND LAYING ON OF HANDS 

The Immediate Cause of Natural, Hypnotic, and Mesmeric Sleep 
the Same. — The Process and Theory of Mesmerism. — Braid's 
Experiments. — The Process of Hypnotism. — The Confusion 
in Terms and Methods. — Liebault's Formulation of the Law of 
Suggestion. — Suggestion regarded as a Universal Solvent of 
the Mysteries of Hypnotism and Mesmerism. — The Effects of 
Hypnotism and Mesmerism due to Different Proximate Causes. 



xviii CONTENTS 

Page 

— Physical Contact the Essential Feature which distinguishes 
Mesmeric from Hypnotic Practice. — The Psycho-Histological 
Theory. — Historical Sketch of '* Healing by Touch/' — The 
Effects of this Process not accounted for by Suggestion in the 
Ordinary Sense of that Term 234 



CHAPTER VII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE BY ANTS AND BEES BY MEANS OF 
PHYSICAL CONTACT 

The Psycho-Histological Theory of Mental Therapeutics. — Com- 
munication of Mental Impulses by Means of Physical Contact an 
Elementary Fact of Psychology. — The Vital Units of Pluricellu- 
lar Organisms habitually communicate by this Means. — Uni- 
cellular Organisms, grouped together in Colonies, communicate 
in the sameWay. — Communication between Ants by Contact of 
Antennae. — Hypothetical " Langage Antennal " of Huber. — 
Antennal Communion among Bees. — Inadequacy of Tactile- 
Signal Hypothesis. — Thought-Transference the Obvious Expla- 
nation . . 250 

CHAPTER VIII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE BY MAN UNDER CONDITIONS OF 
PHYSICAL CONTACT 

The Distinction between Thought-Transference and Telepathy. — 
The " Willing " Game. — The Muscle-Reading Hypothesis. — 
Instances of Thought-Transference which it does not explain. 
— Thought-Transference facilitated by Physical Contact. — The 
Spiritistic " Circle." — Experiments in Thought-Transference 
with and without Physical Contact. — The Nervous Organism 
of Man specially adapted for Thought-Transference, and hence 
for Healing by Physical Contact 262 

CHAPTER IX 

CONCLUSIONS THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL 

The Hypothetical Magnetic Fluid. — Histionic Suggestion com- 
petent to explain all the Facts of Mesmerism. — This Form of 
Suggestion the most effective as a Therapeutic Agency. — It may 



CONTENTS XIX 

Page 
operate independently of the Volition of the Patient. — The 
Nerve Terminals the Means provided by Nature for the Trans- 
mission of Histionic Suggestions. — The Spinal Column the 
Guide to one Set of Terminals, and Pain the Guide to the other. 
— This Process of Treatment available to all 274 



^att <©ne 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
IN MENTAL HEALING 



THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 



^art #nc 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
IN MENTAL HEALING 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

Ancient Superstitions. — All Diseases referred to Bad Spirits. — All 
Healing of Disease credited to Good Spirits. — Innumerable The- 
ories of Causation prevalent among Primitive Peoples. — Many of 
them still survive in Modified Forms ; some of the most grotesque 
being extremely popular in the midst of the Highest Civilization. — 
All Systems, Ancient and Modern, have been successful in healing 
the Sick. — This Fact alone challenges the Attention of Science. — 
It indicates the Existence of a Law pertaining generically to all 
, Systems. — No Logical Connection between Theories of Causation 
and the Results produced ; otherwise all Systems, from Fetichism 
to the most Modern Modification of that System, would be able to 
" demonstrate " their Theories. — The Logic of Primitive Minds 
the same in all the Ages. — The Question of Mental Healing is 
primarily a psychological one ; hence the Necessity of studying the 
Fundamental Principles of Psychology as a Basis of a Correct 
Theory of Causation. — Recent Discovery of a Primary Intelligence 
below the Threshold of Normal Consciousness enables us to study 
the Subject inductively. — The Facts of Physiology and Histology 
reveal the Rationale of Mental Healing. — It is unnecessary to 
antagonize Established Systems of Material Therapeutics. — We 
are indebted to Doctors of Medicine for much of the Knowledge 



4 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

which enables us to formulate a Rational Theory. — The Correla- 
tion of all the Facts of Psychology and Physiology are necessary for 
placing Mental Therapeutics on a Scientific Basis. — Many Medical 
Men employ the Methods of Suggestive Therapeutics in their Daily 
Practice. — The Discovery of the Law of Suggestion by a Number 
of the Medical Profession was the first Great Step in the Direction 
of a True Explication of Mental Therapeutics. — The next Great 
Step was its Generalization under the Law of the Duality of Mind. 
— The Correlation of all the Facts of Mental and Physical Science 
is therefore essential. 



HISTORY informs us that in all the ages man 
has recognized the existence of an intelligent 
Power capable of creating diseases in the human 
body, and of healing them independently of material 
remedies or appliances. This Power, being invisible 
and intangible, was very naturally referred to mental 
or spiritual agencies, good or bad, beneficent or 
malevolent, as the symptoms in each particular case 
seemed to indicate. In the early days '' spirits of 
health " and '^ goblins damned " seem to have peo- 
pled the circumambient air in vast numbers and in 
about equal proportions. One host revisited '' the 
glimpses of the moon" with intents decidedly wicked; 
the other with those that were purely charitable. 
One brought blasts from hell; the other breathed 
airs from heaven. One sent forth plague and pesti- 
lence; the other shed healing from its wings. For 
untold ages these invisible agencies, good and bad, 
seem to have been practically the only ones held 
responsible for the existence of disease, or credited 
with the power of healing the sick. 

Naturally, the greatest efforts of men so beset by 
the conflicting forces surrounding them were em- 
ployed in devising ways and means for thwarting 



INTRODUCTORY 5 

the efforts of the evil spirits and for conciliating 
those that were good. Hence the innumerable re- 
cipes for those purposes which history informs us 
were in common use among our remote ancestors. 
A volume would be required even to catalogue the 
various devices and formulas for invoking the aid 
of the health-purveying inhabitants of the spirit 
world, to say nothing of the " prophylactical receipts 
of wholesome caution '' against evil spirits in general 
and witches in particular. Such a volume, compiled 
from all available sources, would be of incalculable 
value to science; for it would show that not only 
our ancestors — savage, semi-civilized, and civilized 
— were filled with such superstitions, but that all 
primitive peoples have had, and still have, the same 
generic ideas, and that they practise generically the 
same methods of healing the sick. What is of still 
greater importance, it would show that all the facts 
of spiritual or mental healing among primitive peo- 
ples of all the ages are easily correlated not only 
with each other, but with many of the methods now 
in vogue in the most highly civilized nations. That 
is to say, many of the modern theories of causation 
are mere survivals of ancient superstitions; and 
some of them differ from the latter only in the more 
accentuated and grotesque imbecility of the later 
theories of causation. 

More important still is the fact that the records 
show that under all '^ systems," ancient and modern, 
many marvellous cures have been effected, some of 
them seemingly miraculous. This fact, to the induc- 
tive scientist, is pregnant with significance; for it is 
demonstrative that the whole subject-matter is under 



6 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICLNE 

the dominion of some natural law. The scientist 
reasons thus : Here is a vast congeries of phe- 
nomena to be accounted for. They have been pro- 
duced in every age and in every tribe and nation in 
the world, civilized and savage. Some of the phe- 
nomena, it is true, may be accounted for on the 
score of mal-observation ; some may be attributed 
to fraud and legerdemain, and much to defective 
memory or intentional falsehood. But after due 
allowance is made for these and other mifter sources 
of error, the great bulk of the phenomena remains 
to challenge the attention of the scientist. It is true 
that science in years gone by has not deigned to 
meddle with the subject, choosing to relegate all the 
alleged phenomena indiscriminately to the domain of 
superstition and imposture. During the last decade, 
however, it has become evident to the most skeptical 
that cures of disease are being effected, in the midst 
of the highest civilization, by means obviously iden- 
tical with those employed in the darkest ages of 
superstition. That is to say, the results are identi- 
cal; and it is axiomatic that, in any series of cog- 
nate phenomena, identical results presuppose identical 
or cognate causes. Hence it is that when, as in men- 
tal healing, uniform results are reported from widely 
separated localities, from all races and conditions of 
mankind during all the ages, ancient and modern, 
the true scientist knows that there must be a basis 
of truth underlying the whole subject, and that all 
the phenomena are referable to some one generic 
"cause. Nor does the multiplicity of theories of 
causation held by the various tribes of men, or sects 
of mental healers, militate in the least against the 



INTRODUCTORY 7 

student's convictions; for if he has acquired the 
most superficial acquaintance with the elementary 
principles of logic, he is aware that there is no neces- 
sary connection between theories of causation and 
the results produced by those who hold them. In 
other words, the fact of healing the sick by any 
method whatever does not demonstrate the correct- 
ness of the theory of causation which happens to be 
entertained by the healer in any given case. 

This is a self-evident proposition; and to the 
average reader it will seem to be a work of super- 
erogation to state it formally. But it must be re- 
membered that there are vast numbers of mental 
healers, in this and other highly civilized countries, 
whose theories of causation are more fantastic, not 
to say idiotic, than those of any savage tribe of 
which history informs us, and that they firmly and 
fervently believe and proclaim that their theories 
are demonstrated to be true by the fact that they 
heal the sick. In fact, so insistent are they upon 
this point that they habitually employ the word 
" demonstrate," or some of its derivatives, as a syno- 
nym for the verb '' to heal." Every act of healing, 
in other words, is a complete demonstration of the 
truth of the hypothesis which the healer happens to 
entertain. 

It is, perhaps, superfluous to add that if this were 
true of one system of mental healing it would be 
true of all. Hence the North American Indian, 
whose theory of disease is that it is caused by the 
infernal machinations of evil spirits, and whose 
therapeutic agencies consist in frightening away 
said evil spirits by means of hideous noises and a 



8 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

diabolical " make up/' has the same logical right to 
claim that successful healing by his system is demon- 
strative of the correctness of his theory of disease 
as well as of the scientific value of his methods of 
healing. What is true of the North American In- 
dian's hypothesis is true of all theories of disease 
and all therapeutic agencies, in Christian or in 
heathen lands; for, as before remarked, the one 
salient fact that correlates all systems of mental 
medicine is that they all heal the sick. 

It is this one fact that challenges the attention of 
science. It appeals to the anthropologist, because 
the beliefs of mankind, whether true or false, con- 
stitute an important branch of his curriculum of 
studies. It is of infinite interest and importance to 
the therapeutist, because it is demonstrative that in 
some way the state of the mind of the patient is 
an important factor in the diagnosis and treatment 
of disease. But its most direct and imperative ap- 
peal is to the psychologist; for it is primarily a 
purely psychological question, and upon the student 
of that science devolves the task of discovering the 
fundamental principles underlying the mental force 
behind the phenomena. When that is accomplished, 
it will be next in order to invoke the aid of physi- 
ology, and especially of macroscopic anatomy, or 
histology, to the end that we may learn something 
of the machinery through which this potent energy 
performs its work. 

It is obvious that if even the fundamentals of this 
knowledge can be successfully acquired, we may 
then know, proximately at least, something of the 
modus operandi by which the mind acts upon the 



INTRODUCTORY 9 

body in health and in the cure of disease. It fol- 
lows that such knowledge will enable us to direct 
the healing energy more intelligently, and presum- 
ably more effectively. Not that we can ever learn 
just how the mind performs its functions as a thera- 
peutic agent. \\^ do not even know how it causes 
the simplest movement of the limbs, although we 
may be conscious of imparting the primary mental 
stimulus necessary to produce that result in the vol- 
untary muscles. Science has taught us something 
of the machinery through which the mind operates 
io produce consciously a voluntary movement of the 
body. We know by conscious experience that the 
mind is the motive power; and we have taken a 
few primary lessons in the art of directing and 
controlling that power and making it useful. But 
this is all that we really know of that conscious 
intelligence which, nevertheless, has elevated man- 
kind from savagery to civilization. 

How little man knows of his own mental powers 
and limitations is shown in the fact that it is only 
within the last decade that he has become aware of 
the existence, within himself and below the thresh- 
old of his normal consciousness, of a primary ^ in- 
telligence that is at once endowed with wonderful 
powers and circumscribed by equally wonderful limi- 
tations. It is well within the bounds of truth to say 
that it is to this discovery that the world is indebted 
for all the knowledge that it possesses of the real 

1 Some authors denominate this intelh'gence ''the secondary ^tM^^^ 
but the facts of organic evolution show conclusively that it is the 
primary intelligence of the organic world. See "The Divine Pedigree 
of Man.'' 



lO THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

science of mental therapeutics; for it is to this pri- 
mary intelhgence that science has traced the som'ce 
of the mental power that heals ; and it is to its limi- 
tations that is due all that is mysterious in its phe- 
nomenal manifestations, not only in the domain of 
mental therapeutics, but in all other classes of psy- 
chical phenomena. 

In attempting an analysis of this wonderful sub- 
jective intelligence I shall confine myself to its aspects 
as a therapeutic agent, and not obtrude any theories 
or speculations as to its ultimate origin ^ or its final 
destiny.^ I shall confine myself exclusively to the 
demonstrable facts of experimental psychology for 
my proofs of the existence of a subjective intelli- 
gence, to the well-authenticated experiences of man- 
kind for proofs of its potency as a healing agent, 
and to the current standard literature of physiology 
and histology to show the rationale of the mental 
processes by which every fibre of the body is reached, 
and its conditions controlled. I do not expect to say 
the last word that can be said of the science of men- 
tal therapeutics; but my primary object will be ac- 
complished if I can point out the lines of study and 
investigation which may lead to an intelligent solu- 
tion of the problem of mental control over the body 
in health and disease. If in addition to that I can 
succeed in discovering the fundamental psycholog- 
ical law pertaining to the control of the healing 
power resident in every man's mental organism, 
and in pointing out the physical mechanism through 
which that power is exerted, I may hope to be able 

1 See *' The Divine Pedigree of Man/' 
2 See " A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life." 



INTRO D UCTOR Y 1 1 

to indicate the most effective methods of practising 
the healing art without the use of material remedies. 

Before proceeding to the discussion of the main 
subject, however, I desire to say a word in regard to 
doctors of medicine. 

I have no quarrel with the medical profession, nor 
can I join in the indiscriminate clamor against mate- 
rial remedies for the cure of disease. I cannot for- 
get that doctors of medicine were the first to discover 
the fundamental facts which lie at the basis of the 
science of mental medicine. Thus, Dr. Hack Tuke's 
great work ^ contains a voluminous record of the 
observations of cases by medical men, of both ancient 
and modern times, demonstrating the control of the 
mind over the body in health and disease. Indeed 
the literature of medicine, within the memory of 
men now living, was full of illustrations of that im- 
portant fact; and medical students were instructed 
by their professors in its practical application at the 
bedside. A cheerful, hopeful, and, above all, a con- 
fident demeanor was held to be only second in im- 
portance to the material remedies prescribed; and, 
to give the profession due credit, the effect of that 
instruction still survives, and is visibly manifested 
in the wise and preternaturally able expression of 
countenance which every physician knows so well 
how to assume when feeling the pulse, examining 
the tongue, and writing the prescription. The Law 
of Suggestion had not been formulated when such 
instructions became a part of the college curriculum, 
but its practical valvie was thus recognized by the 

1 The Influence of Mind upon the Body (Henry C. Lea's Son «& 
Co., Philadelphia). 



12 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

medical profession many generations before Braid 
or Liebaiilt saw the light; and the medical doctor 
who first prescribed a placebo/ under the guise of 
a specific, and noted its wonderful curative powers, 
took the first great step in demonstrating the thera- 
peutic value of a '' larvated '' (Pitzer) suggestion. 
It may be noted, in passing, that one of the most 
hopeful indications of advancement in medical science 
consists in the fact that the profession now very gen- 
erally recognize the placebo as indicated when diag- 
nosis fails. Manufacturing pharmacists consequently 
derive a large income from the sale of the ready- 
made placebo. That many fatal mistakes have been 
avoided by its employment, and many cures effected, 
goes without saying. 

It will thus be seen that to the medical profession 
the world is indebted for two discoveries, — first, 
that the mind controls the bodily functions; second, 
that the mind can be controlled by suggestion. That 
physicians did not formulate the law, and builded 
better than they knew, does not detract from their 
merits as original discoverers. Columbus died in ig- 
norance of the fact that he had discovered America. 

Nor can I follow the extremists in holding that 
all material remedies, like the placebo, owe their 
efficacy wholly to suggestion. I recognize the fact 
— which the medical profession has taught us — 
that the human body is made up of an aggregation, 
or confederation, of cells; that each cell is an indi- 
vidual entity, a living creature, and that, as such, it 
performs all the functions of animal life, including 
those of nutrition, digestion, and excretion. Each 

^ Commonly called ''bread pills." 



INTRO D UCTOR V 1 3 

cell, therefore, requires its appropriate food to enable 
it to perform its special functions. This food is, of 
course, supplied from the material taken into the 
stomach; and the blood-cells perform the double 
duty of conveying the food to each individual cell, 
and of removing the waste material excreted (meta- 
bolism). It follows that the useful food-material of 
all that is taken into the stomach, be it in ordinary 
food or in medicine, is carried to its appropriate 
groups of cells. That some medicines contain nutri- 
tive material adapted to the needs of special groups 
of cells cannot be seriously doubted. Nor can it be 
doubted that if the medical profession could know 
just what material is adapted to the necessities of 
each group of cells, medicine would assume the dig- 
nity of an inductive science. They have already laid 
the foundation for the study of medicine on those 
lines by their minute researches in the science of his- 
tology, or microscopic anatomy, which is the branch 
of biology that treats of the cell life and the structure 
of the tissues of organized bodies. They have also 
laid a broad foundation for the study of the true 
science of mental medicine, by revealing the ma- 
chinery through which suggestion does its thera- 
peutic work. It enables us not only to correlate all 
systems of mental healing, ancient and modern, but 
to harmonize the facts of suggestive therapeutics 
with the accepted principles of modern physiological 
science as laid down by the ablest medical authorities. 
It must also be remembered to the credit of the 
medical profession that one of its members formu- 
lated the Law of Suggestion, and thus laid the foun- 
dation of the science of mental healing. It is true 



14 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

that it was formulated with special reference to hyp- 
notism; but at that time hypnotism was the only 
phase of psychic phenomena under scientific discus- 
sion. Later on, a broader generalization became 
necessary in connection with the theory of the dual 
mind, and the law was then found to pertain exclu- 
sively to the subjective mind, and to dominate that 
mysterious mental force under all its states and con- 
ditions.^ Nevertheless, the discovery of the Law of 
Suggestion in its relations to hypnotism was the 
first great step in the direction of a true explication, 
not only of mental therapeutics, but of all psychic 
phenomena. 

It is true that the attitude of the medical profes- 
sion toward all forms and theories of mental thera- 
peutics has always been one of extreme conservatism, 
often savoring of unreasoning prejudice; but on the 
whole its influence has been salutary. If its denun- 
ciations have been bitter, it was because they have 
been directed chiefly against charlatanism and un- 
scientific theories of causation; but, as I shall at- 
tempt to show, its inductions and discoveries have 
furnished the basis of a scientific system of mental 
therapeutics. 

It will now be seen that I am not about to wage 
a warfare against the medical profession, nor upon 
drugs and medicines, nor upon any of the so-called 
'' systems '' of mental therapeutics, much less upon 
the well-ascertained facts of physiological science. It 
is a truism of science that, in the investigation of any 
subject, no fact can safely be ignored that pertains, 
directly or indirectly, to the subject-matter; for no 

1 See " The Law of Psychic Phenomena.'* 



INTRO D UCTOR Y 1 5 

fact in nature is inconsistent with any other fact. If, 
therefore, it is true that the mind controls the bodily- 
functions in health and disease, the facts of physio- 
logical science will at least harmonize with the propo- 
sition, and perchance reveal approximately something 
of the methods and machinery by which this control 
is effected. In other words, psychology and physi- 
ology necessarily touch upon each other somewhere; 
and it is the object of this book to suggest tentatively 
a line of study by which the facts of both sciences, 
so far as they relate to mental therapeutics, may be 
correlated and reduced to something like scientific 
coherency. An exhaustive treatise is, of course, im- 
possible within the limits prescribed; but if I can 
induce abler men to test the value of my suggestions, 
I am not without hope that a truly scientific system 
of psycho-therapeutics may eventually be evolved 
which will harmonize all the facts of human experi- 
ence that pertain to the subject-matter. 

I shall first treat of the psychological aspects of the 
question ; secondly, of the psycho-physiological ; and, 
thirdly, of the methods of practice which suggest 
themselves in view of all the facts developed. 



CHAPTER II 

FIRST PRINCIPLES 

Mental Healing is not a Religion. — The Example of Jesus is conclu- 
sive on that Point. — Nothing Supernatural in Mental Medicine. — 
The Power that Heals resides within the Patient. — This was the 
Doctrine taught by Jesus and epitomized in the Words " Thy Faith 
hath made Thee whole." — The Word " Faith," as he employed it, 
means not only ** Belief" or "Confidence," but includes all the 
Spiritual Energies of the Human Soul. — It is not only prerequisite 
to Success in Mental Healing, but is a Dynamic Energy, besides. 

— Modern Science has succeeded only in demonstrating the Scien- 
tific Accuracy of the Master's Knowledge of Mental Therapeutics. 

— The Whole Art of Mental Healing consists in knowing how to 
induce the Condition of Faith in the Patient. — The Fundamental 
Psychological Principles involved. — Suggestion a Universal Law 
of the Subjective Mind. — Limitations of Subjective Powers of 
Reasoning. — False and True Suggestions. — Potency of Auto- 
suggestions. — Moral Principles constitute Auto-Suggestions. — 
Resistance to False Suggestions. — Effectiveness of Suggestion not 
dependent upon the Hypnotic Condition. — Passivity of the Mind 
the Equivalent of Hypnosis for Therapeutic Purposes. — Sugges- 
tions based upon Scientific Truth are most effective. — The Third 
Fundamental Psychological Principle. 

BEFORE attempting to state what mental heal- 
ing is, it may be well to have a clear under- 
standing of what it is not. First, then, it is not a 
religion. There is no more religion in healing the 
sick by mental processes than there is in healing them 
by pills or clysters. Many good people think other- 
wise, and cite the example of the Master. But there 
is no evidence that he regarded the act of healing as 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 17 

a religious rite, except in so far as all benevolent acts 
belong to that scheme of universal altruism which 
was the essence of his religion. But he exacted no 
precedent conditions of religious belief from the bene- 
ficiaries of his power ; he prescribed for them no acts 
of religious worship, nor did he himself perform any 
in connection with the exercise of his healing power. 
The only thing that savored of religion, therefore, 
was in that which he refrained from doing, namely: 
he accepted no fees for his services, nor did he charge 
his apostles for '' lessons.'' 

Secondly, there is nothing supernatural or super- 
mundane in the methods or agencies employed in 
healing the sick by mental processes ; and thirdly, no 
power or agency, mundane or supermundane, ex- 
traneous to the patient himself, has any part or lot 
in the process of mental healing. For proof of these 
two propositions we may again refer to the authority 
of the Master. And this brings us to the immedi- 
ate consideration of the question what mental heal- 
ing is. 

Those who are acquainted with the history and 
teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as set forth in the 
New Testament, will recall the facts that he never 
claimed any credit for healing the sick; nor did he 
arrogate to himself the possession of any personal 
power to heal disease; much less did he ascribe the 
power to any other agency, human or divine, extra- 
neous to the patient himself. In truth, the reticence 
of Jesus in regard to his attributes and powers was 
one of his most marked characteristics. But more 
remarkable still was the fact that what he did say 
was always pregnant with veritable scientific signifi- 



1 8 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

cance. No better illustration of this can be imag- 
ined than his constantly reiterated statement with 
regard to the real source of the healing power mani- 
fested in his patients. The words '* Thy faith hath 
made thee whole '' constitute a scientifically exact 
statement of the fundamental fact of mental thera- 
peutics. Their obvious meaning is, first, that the 
power which effects the healing is resident within the 
patient, and not in any extraneous force or agency. 
This is the primary meaning of the phrase, and no 
amount of sophistry can weaken its force or signifi- 
cance. Secondly, it means that this force or energy 
resident within the patient consists of, or is due to, a 
certain definite mental condition or attitude of mind 
with reference to the work to be done. It may be 
here remarked that the English word '^ faith " very 
inadequately describes the energy or force in ques- 
tion, as Jesus apparently understood it. That is to 
say, no definition of the word is found in any dic- 
tionary that conveys the slightest notion of that 
dynamic energy which enabled the leper to throw 
off his disease instantaneously, or the lame man to 
take up his bed and walk. Every dictionary defini- 
tion embraces the implication of some form or de- 
gree of belief as its determinative feature. But the 
faith which Jesus proclaimed as the one prepotent 
agency in the healing of disease, — the faith which 
sustained Peter in his walk upon the water until he 
momentarily lost it, the dynamic potentialities of 
which could only be adequately prefigured as being 
equal to the removal of mountains, — such a faith 
is necessarily far more than the word '' belief " or 
'' confidence '' would imply. It includes both, as 



FIRST PRINCIPLES I9 

modern experiments amply demonstrate; but it must 
also include all the spiritual energies of the human 
soul. To say the least, it must be the mental condi- 
tion precedent to enable the soul to exercise any of 
its powers. 

Be that as it may, it is sufficient for present pur- 
poses to know that faith is the essential mental con- 
dition prerequisite to success in healing the sick by 
any process of mental healing; and when Jesus of 
Nazareth proclaimed that pregnant fact, he antici- 
pated the inductions of modern science by nineteen 
hundred years. How he came into possession of 
such an exact knowledge of the fundamental law of 
mental healing, is not a pertinent subject of discus- 
sion in this connection. It is sufficient to note the 
fact that he possessed that knowledge. Science is 
concerned only with the question of verification. 
That it has been amply verified by scientific experi- 
mentation within the last quarter of a century is a 
matter of common knowledge among students of 
experimental psychology. The nature of the ex- 
periments and their evidential value will be shown 
hereinafter. In the meantime we must assume pro- 
visionally that a certain definite attitude of mind on 
the part of the patient is essential to success in men- 
tal healing, and that that attitude of mind is best 
defined by the word " faith.'' It is also in evidence 
that, when faith is perfect, methods of healing are 
of comparatively little importance. That is to say, 
methods may vary within very wide limits without 
affecting the result, provided each patient is inspired 
by the requisite confidence in the particular method 
employed in his case. Hence the frequent successes 



20 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

attending each of the innumerable methods of men- 
tal healing that have prevailed in all the ages of 
mankind. 

We have now definitely ascertained the one funda- 
mental fact that correlates all forms, methods, and 
systems of mental healing. That is, we know the 
mental condition that must be induced in all cases, 
and under all systems, before mental healing be- 
comes possible. We know that even the Master 
could not dispense with those conditions; for, we 
are told, he could not do many wonderful works 
among the people of his own village '' because of 
their unbelief." 

It follows that the essential thing for the healer 
to know is how to induce that condition in his pa- 
tients. Indeed, it may be said that the whole art of 
m.ental healing consists in knowing how best to con- 
trol the patient's mind in that direction. Of course 
there are as many ways of doing it as there are 
mental healers; and they are all more or less efifec- 
tive, as I have already stated. 

This is not, however, the place to discuss the vari- 
ous methods in vogue. My present purpose is to 
point out the underlying psychological principles in- 
volved in all methods, and incidentally to show that 
when those principles are once comprehended, the 
law of mental medicine will be found to be, like all 
of nature's laws, simple to the last degree, and far 
removed from the realms of mysticism and super- 
stition. That, for instance, which is of primary 
importance, namely, the induction of the essential 
condition of faith in the mind of the patient, will be 
found to be surprisingly easy of accomplishment. 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 21 

At the outset I owe an apology to many of my 
readers for that I shall be compelled, in this chap- 
ter, to repeat the substance of much that has been 
already set forth more at length in my former 
works. ^ This becomes necessary for the reason that 
the arguments in this book will be based upon the 
working hypothesis formulated in my first work; 
and although that hypothesis is now very generally 
accepted by scientists, it will doubtless be new to 
many lay readers of this treatise. In order, there- 
fore, to make the argument comprehensible by all, 
its steps must be taken in orderly sequence, begin- 
ning with the fundamental psychological principles 
involved. 

These may be stated in two propositions, namely : — 

I. Man is endowed with a dual mind, or two states 
of consciousness. For convenience of treatment, and 
to make distinctions clear and readily comprehen- 
sible, I prefer to assume that man is endowed with 
two minds. As a working hypothesis, I am logically 
justified in this assumption, for the reason that every- 
thing happens just as though it were true. This fact 
is easily demonstrable by the processes of experi- 
mental psychology, and it is now very generally rec- 
ognized by all students of psychic science. 

I have chosen to designate one of the two minds 
as the Objective Mind and the other as the Subjec- 
tive Mind, and they will be so differentiated through- 
out this treatise. Others have adopted other terms 
of differentiation, such as the '' conscious '' and the 

1 The fundamental psychological principles relating to mental heal- 
ing, as well as to all other psychic phenomena, have been discussed 
at length in the author's work entitled "The Law of Psychic Phe- 
nomena" (A. C. McClurg & Co.). 



22 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

" unconscious/' the " conscious '' and the '' subcon- 
scious/' minds, each of which is an obvious mis- 
nomer. The savants of the Society for Psychical 
Research generally designate the two states of con- 
sciousness as the " supraliminal '' and the '' sublimi- 
nal/' after the old psychologists. I have adopted the 
terms '' objective '' and " subjective '' for the simple 
reason that the objective mind is the mind of ordi- 
nary waking consciousness, which takes cognizance 
of the objective world by means of the five objective 
senses; whereas the subjective mind is that intelli- 
gence which manifests itself in all subjective states 
and conditions, as in hypnotism, somnambulism, 
trance, dreams, etc., when the objective senses are 
asleep or are otherwise wholly or partially inhibited. 
2. The second proposition is that the subjective 
mind is constantly amenable to control by the power 
of suggestion. The term ^'suggestion," as defined by 
hypnotists, signifies " the insinuation of a belief or 
impulse into the mind of a subject by any means, as 
by words or gestures, usually by emphatic declara- 
tion '' (Century Dictionary). This definition is cor- 
rect as far as it goes, but it is far from indicating 
the full scope and significance of the law of sugges- 
tion. It is not, as is indicated by the above defini- 
tion, restricted to hypnotized subjects, nor to any 
other mental state or condition, normal or abnormal. 
It is a universal law of the subjective mind. The 
supposition that it is restricted to hypnotized sub- 
jects arose from the fact that its discoverers were 
studying the phenomena of hypnotism exclusively, 
and hence had no data for a broader generalization. 
It was, nevertheless, an immense stride in advance, 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 23 

for it threw a flood of light upon much that was 
mysterious in the phenomena of hypnotism. Its 
chief value, however, consisted in that it paved the 
way for the broader discovery that it is a universal 
law of the subjective mind. The latter discovery 
was the inevitable consequence of the formulation of 
the doctrine of mental duality; for, it was reasoned, 
if man is endowed with two minds, there must neces- 
sarily be some clear line of differentiation between 
them, both as to their powers and their limitations. 
It was at length seen that suggestion and its corol- 
laries furnished the clue to the situation. Thus, one 
of the corollaries of the law of suggestion is that the 
subjective mind is incapable of inductive reasoning; 
that is to say, it is incapable of instituting and con- 
ducting independently a line of research, by col- 
lecting facts, classifying them, and estimating their 
relative evidential values. On the contrary, it is 
compelled, by the primary law of its being, to accept 
its premises from extraneous sources; that is to 
say, whatever suggestions are imparted to it consti- 
tute the premises from which it reasons. It follows 
that its method of reasoning is purely deductive; 
and it is here that one of its marvellous powers is 
made manifest, for its power of correct deduction 
is well-nigh perfect. And this is true whether the 
premise is true or false. That is to say, its deduc- 
tions from a false premise are as logically correct as 
from a true one ; and, moreover, false and true sug- 
gestions are alike carried into active effect wherever 
it is possible. Thus, if it is suggested to a hypno- 
tized subject that he is a dog, he will instantaneously 
assume the attitude and perform the acts of a dog, 



24 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

SO far as it is physically possible to do so, firmly be- 
lieving himself to be a dog. In a word, any char- 
acter suggested, be it a fool or a philosopher, an 
angel or a devil, an orator or an auctioneer, will be 
personated with marvellous fidelity to the original, 
just so far as the subject's knowledge of the original 
extends. The wonderful histrionic ability displayed 
by hypnotized subjects in personating suggested char- 
acters has often been remarked. But it is not " act- 
ing a part '' in the ordinary sense of the word. It 
is much more than acting, for the subject 'believes 
himself to be the actual personality suggested. It is 
not, therefore, a question of histrionic talent, in the 
ordinary sense; for subjects who are entirely desti- 
tute of that ability will personate to perfection any 
suggested character with which they are familiar. 
It is a common observation that excellence in the 
histrionic art is proportioned in each case to the 
actor's ability to forget his own personality and to 
identify himself with that of the character which he 
seeks to portray. It is, therefore, obvious that the 
whole secret of the so-called histrionic ability of the 
h)/^pnotic subject is accounted for by the fact that his 
own personality is completely submerged under the 
influence of suggestion. His identification with the 
suggested personality is also complete, for he be- 
lieves himself to be the actual person suggested. 
The essential prerequisite mental conditions of good 
acting are, therefore, present in perfection. It fol- 
lows that in proportion to the subject's knowledge 
and intelligent appreciation of the salient character- 
istics of the suggested personality, will the rendition 
approach perfection. 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 2$ 

It IS scarcely necessary to remark that a stevedore 
cannot be suddenly transformed into a good actor, in 
the theatrical sense, by means of hypnotism. Knowl- 
edge of the salient characteristics of an individual is 
one thing, and knowledge of the requirements of the 
stage is quite another. The principle, however, is 
the same. It follows that an actor who has intelli- 
gently studied his part and knows its requirements, 
but is deficient in the power of rendition, could be 
trained to a high state of efficiency in the histrionic 
art by means of hypnotic suggestion. It would, of 
course, require a trainer of high character and excep- 
tional intelligence to achieve the best results.^ 

I mention these hypnotic experiments for the pur- 
pose of showing how perfectly the subjective mind 
is dominated by the power of suggestion. Whether 
true or false, a suggestion v/ields a potent influence, 
although there are necessarily degrees of potency de- 
pending upon conditions, just as there are degrees of 
potency under varying conditions in every force in 
nature. And, like every other force in nature, sug- 
gestion acts most effectively on lines of least resist- 
ance. Thus, a suggestion that is contrary to the 
moral principles of the subject will be resisted with 
a strength and persistence proportioned to its moral 
obliquity. A suggestion the performance of which 

1 Since the above was written, Dr. John Duncan Ouackenbos, emer- 
itus professor of Psychology in Columbia University, read a paper 
before the Medico-Legal Society of New York on this subject, which 
has since been published in the '•^Medico-Legal Journal." The doctor 
is one of the leading hypnotists in this country; and he reports some 
marvellous successes in training actors for the stage. Prof. A. E. 
Carpenter, of Boston, has also been highly successful in training sub- 
jects for the lecture platform. 



26 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

would render the subject an object of ridicule will 
be resisted by him with an emphasis proportioned 
to his pride and dignity. A suggestion that would 
imperil the life of the subject if carried into 
execution will be resisted with an energy propor- 
tioned to the degree and imminence of the peril 
involved. 

These do not constitute exceptions to the law of 
suggestion. On the contrary, they serve to illustrate 
its universality. For, be it remembered, an auto- 
suggestion is just as potent, other things being equal, 
as a suggestion from another person; and when the 
subjective mind is confronted by two opposing sug- 
gestions, the stronger one necessarily prevails. Thus, 
the settled moral principles of the subject's life will 
successfully resist the suggestions of crime or im- 
morality; for moral principles constitute auto-sug- 
gestions, the strength of which is proportioned to 
that of his moral character. The subject's dignity 
of character, in like manner, constitutes an auto- 
suggestion that may successfully resist a suggestion 
the active acceptance of which would place him in a 
ridiculous attitude; and the instinct of self-preser- 
vation will, on the same principle, cause him to re- 
fuse to imperil his life. 

There are, in fact, an infinite number of condi- 
tions which tend more or less strongly to modify or 
divert the force of the suggestions which find lodg- 
ment in the subjective mind of man. Thus, a sug- 
gestion that is known by the subject in his normal 
condition to be absolutely false will always excite at 
least a momentary opposition, and that, too, will be 
duly proportioned to the enormity of the falsehood. 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 2^ 

In matters of indifference to him he may be induced, 
by persistence and iteration, to accept and act upon 
it; or where the performance of the act suggested 
promises to result in a decided advantage to himself, 
he may accept it with alacrity. In any event, when 
a suggestion is once accepted and followed by corre- 
sponding action, its falsity and its incongruities are 
soon lost sight of by the subject, and, to all its pos- 
sible intents and purposes, it becomes a reality to his 
subjective mind; and it is followed by all its con- 
sequences, within the limits of physical possibility. 
Practical illustrations of this are often seen in cer- 
tain systems of mental therapeutics, where the pa- 
tient is told that if he will consent to believe certain 
things that he knows to be untrue and to the last de- 
gree absurd and impossible, his faith will be speedily 
followed by restored health. Resistance to such a 
suggestion is, of course, instantaneous; and it is 
prolonged in proportion to the patient's intelligence. 
Nevertheless, many marvellous cures have resulted 
under suggestions that to the alienist clearly reveal 
their origin in a pathological condition of the mind 
of their inventor. 

It will now be seen that the effectiveness of sug- 
gestions is not dependent upon the induction of the 
hypnotic condition; for under the system to which 
allusion has been made that condition is never in- 
duced, that is, in the sense in which hypnosis is com- 
monly understood. That is to say, the condition of 
hypnotic sleep is never induced. Passivity of mind 
and body is all that is required of the patients, 
which, as we shall see later on, is the equivalent of 
hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. 



28 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

The points to be observed and remembered in con- 
nection with the foregoing are the following : — 

1. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to 
control by suggestion without reference to the state 
or condition of the objective mind. 

2. Suggestions operate most effectively on lines of 
least resistance. 

3. Resistance to suggestions from extraneous 
sources arises from auto-suggestions having their 
origin in various emotions, such as the primordial 
instincts (as of self-preservation, love of offspring, 
etc.), settled moral principles, sensitiveness to ridi- 
cule, fixed habits of thought, or love of scientific 
truth. This includes resistance to suggestions which 
are in obvious contravention of reason, experience, 
or the evidence of the senses. 

4. Resistance to the last-named suggestions is pro- 
portioned to the intelligence of the subject, and hence 
it is often overcome by persistence, especially when 
accompanied by promises of resultant benefits, as in 
certain methods of mental healing. 

It follows that while the faith that is required to 
make therapeutic suggestions effective is primarily 
the faith of the subjective mind, nevertheless sugges- 
tions are most potent when they are not antagonized 
by any resistance whatever, either intellectual or emo- 
tional. Hence it is that suggestions which are based 
upon scientific truth, other things being equal, are 
necessarily the most potent in their influence and per- 
manent in their eft'ects. As in all the other relations 
of human life, truth is mightier than error or false- 
hood, and it is the condition precedent to all perma- 
nent good. 



FIRST PRINCIPLES 2g 

Having now briefly outlined the salient points per- 
taining to the first two fundamental psychological 
propositions, it remains to add a third term to com- 
plete a working hypothesis for the systematic study 
of mental medicine. The third term, or proposition, 
therefore, is that The subjective mind is the power 
that controls the functions^ sensations, and condi- 
iions of the body, 

I need not dwell at length upon this proposition 
here, as its truth will more fully appear as we pro- 
ceed in subsequent chapters. No scientist will deny 
the existence within us of a central intelligence which 
controls the bodily functions, and, through the sym- 
pathetic nervous system, actuates the involuntary 
muscles, and keeps the bodily machinery in motion. 
Nor will the most pronounced materialist deny that 
this central intelligence is the controlling energy 
which regulates the action of each of the myriad 
cellular entities of which the whole body is com- 
posed. It matters not how we may designate it, or 
what our theories may be as to its origin and des- 
tiny; it exists. Whether we call it the ^^ principle 
of life," the " abdominal brain,'' the '' communal 
soul,'' the " subliminal consciousness," or the " sub- 
jective mind," it exists; and it controls the bodily 
functions in health and disease, and, in turn, is con- 
trollable by the subtle power of suggestion. 

We have, then, in three propositions, each of which 
is demonstrable by experimentation, a complete work- 
ing hypothesis for the systematic study and practice 
of mental therapeutics. They may be restated and 
grouped in systematic order as follows : — 



30 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

1. Man is endowed with a dual mind, — objective 
and subjective. 

2. The subjective mind controls the functions, sen- 
sations, and conditions of the body. 

3. The subjective mind is amenable to control by 
suggestion. 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 31 



CHAPTER III 

THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 

The Intelligence that controls the Functions of the Body in Health the 
Power or Energy that requires Assistance in Case of Disease. — 
The Body a Confederation of Micro-organisms controlled by this 
Central Intelligence. — It is a Mental Organism that all Therapeu- 
tic Agencies are designed to energize. — Mental Therapeutic Agen- 
cies the Primary and Normal Means for this End. — Physical 
Agencies not excluded. — A Mental Stimulus more direct and 
positive than a Physical One. — Material Remedies Good and 
Legitimate Forms of Suggestion. — Whether Remedies are Mate- 
rial or Mental, they must energize the Central Controlling Intelli- 
gence. — The Therapeutic Value of all Agencies proportioned to 
their Power to stimulate the Subjective Mind. — Suggestion the 
Prepotent Therapeutic Energy. — This is the Law of Mental Heal- 
ing. — The Teleological Argument to be drawn from the Law of 
Mental Medicine. — None other so demonstrative of Divine Be- 
nevolence. — Absence of Fear and Pain at the Moment of Disso- 
lution. — This Phenomena, considered together with the Law of 
Mental Healing, possesses a Teleological Significance. — The Law 
of Mental Healing is universal and adapted to every Grade of 
Human Intelligence. — Antiquity of Suggestion as a Therapeutic 
Agent. — Its Myriad Forms. — All effective in proportion to their 
Faith-Inspiring Potency. — Scientific Significance of the Beliefs 
and Practices of Primitive Humanity. — All were useful, and 
each was adapted to some Special Grade of Intelligence. — Primi- 
tive Minds still exist in the Highest Modern Civilization \vith 
Corresponding Powers of Reasoning. — Current Beliefs adapted 
to Varying Grades of Intelligence. — Their Religious Features 
Potent Factors in their Success. — Systems based upon Error less 
efficacious than one founded upon Truth. — Nearly all refer the 
Healing Power to Extraneous Sources, an Error which Jesus in- 
sistently controverted. 



32 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

IT must now be evident to the scientific student 
that the three propositions stated at the close of 
the preceding chapter apply with equal force to every 
system of mental medicine, from fetichism to the 
most exact and scientific system of suggestive thera- 
peutics. Like all the laws of nature, the law of 
mental medicine is universal in its application; and, 
like all the others, it is simple and easily compre- 
hended. Granted that there is an intelligence that 
controls the functions of the body in health, it fol- 
lows that it is the same power or energy that fails 
in case of disease. Failing, it requires assistance; 
and that is what all therapeutic agencies aim to ac- 
complish. No intelligent physician of any school 
claims to be able to do more than to '^ assist nature '' 
to restore normal conditions of the body. That it is 
a mental energy that thus requires assistance, no one 
denies; for science teaches us that the whole body 
is made up of a confederation of intelligent entities, 
each of which performs its functions with an intel- 
ligence exactly adapted to the performance of its 
special duties as a member of the confederacy. There 
is, indeed, no life without mind, from the lowest uni- 
cellular organism up to man. It is, therefore, a men- 
tal energy that actuates every fibre of the body under 
all its conditions. That there is a central intelligence 
that controls each of those mind organisms, is self- 
evident. Whether, as the materialistic scientists in- 
sist, this central intelligence is merely the sum of all 
the cellular intelligences of the bodily organism, or 
is an independent entity, capable of sustaining a sep- 
arate existence after the body perishes, is a question 
that does not concern us in the pursuance of the pres- 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 33 

ent inquiry. It is sufficient for us to know that such 
an intelHgence exists, and that, for the time being, 
it is the controlHng energy that normally regulates 
the action of the myriad cells of which the body is 
composed. 

It is, then, a mental organism that all therapeutic 
agencies are designed to energize, when, for any 
cause, it fails to perform its functions with reference 
to any part of the physical structure. It follow^s that 
mental therapeutic agencies are the primary and nor- 
mal means of energizing that mental organism. That 
is to say, mental agencies operate more directly than 
any other, because more intelligibly, upon a mental 
organism 4 although physical agencies are by no 
means excluded, for all experience shows that a 
mental organism responds to physical as well as to 
mental stimuli. All that can be reasonably claimed 
is that, in therapeutics, a mental stimulus is neces- 
sarily more direct and more positive in its effects, 
other things being equal, than a physical stimulus 
can be, for the sim^ple reason that it is intelligent on 
the one hand and intelligible on the other. It must 
be remarked, however, that it is obviously impossible 
wholly to eliminate mental suggestion even in the ad- 
ministration of material remedies. Extremists claim 
that the whole effect of material remedies is due to 
the factor of mental suggestion; but this seems to 
be untenable, for reasons stated in another chapter. 
The most that can be claimed wnth any degree of 
certainty is that material remedies, when they are 
not in themselves positively injurious, are good and 
legitimate forms of suggestion, and, as such, are in- 
vested with a certain therapeutic potency, as in the 

3 



34 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

administration of the placebo. It is also certain 
that, whether the remedies are material or mental, 
they must, directly or indirectly, energize the mental 
organism in control of the bodily functions. Other- 
wise the therapeutic effects produced cannot be per- 
manent. It follows that the therapeutic value of all 
remedial agencies, material or mental, is propor- 
tioned to their respective powers to produce the 
effect of stimulating the subjective mind to a state 
of normal activity, and directing its energies into 
appropriate channels. We know that suggestion fills 
this requirement more directly and positively than 
any other known therapeutic agent; and this is all 
that needs to be done for the restoration of health 
in any case outside the domain of surgery. It is all 
that can be done. No power in the universe can 
do more than energize the mental organism that is 
the seat and source of health within the body. A 
miracle could do no more. 

This, then, is a law of mental healing. Is there 
any other? Each of the indefinite number of sects 
of mental healers now in evidence in this country 
tells us that it has a law of its own, — which is 
the only genuine article, all the others being either 
feeble imitations or wholly fraudulent, wicked, and 
diabolical. They agree in but one thing, and that is 
in hating the medical profession; and they hate but 
one thing more than they do that profession, and 
that is each other. They have, however, a common 
logic, by means of which each one proves that his 
is the only scientific system of mental therapeutics. 
Each holds that the fact that he heals the sick by 
his method is demonstrative that his theory is the 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 35 

criterion of scientific truth. I have before remarked 
that the one thing that correlates all methods of 
mental healing is the fact that they all succeed in 
healing disease. If, therefore, their logic is sound, 
there are as many laws of mental medicine as there 
are mental healers; and the " systems '' of the Black- 
foot Indian and the fetich worshipper stand on as 
firm a scientific basis as the most enlightened mental 
therapeutist of the twentieth century. 

It requires but the most elementary scientific edu- 
cation to teach one to know that God is not thus 
prodigal of special laws. The first lesson that the 
merest tyro in science learns is that all of nature's 
laws are general, that each one covers a vast do- 
main, and that allied or cognate phenomena are gov- 
erned by some one universal law which tolerates no 
exceptions. In nothing is the wisdom of the Crea- 
tor so conspicuously manifested as in the universal- 
ity of his laws; and theology has never formulated 
a teleological argument so strong and convincing and 
unanswerable as that to be drawn from the law of 
mental medicine. For it not only shows the infinite 
wisdom of God, but it is demonstrative of his infin- 
ite love for all mankind, his infinite mercy, his 
infinite benevolence toward all sentient creatures. 
All the laws of nature may be said to exhibit infin- 
ite intelligence and wisdom; but they do not all 
demonstrate, to the finite understanding, the exist- 
ence of the attributes of love, mercy, and benevo- 
lence in the character of the Lawgiver. The law of 
organic evolution, for instance, involves an infinite 
prodigality of life, and the necessity for universal 
death, to say nothing of the apparently total disre- 



36 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

gard of the lives and the comfort of all sentient 
creatures involved in the normal operation of the 
physical forces of nature. It requires the postula- 
tion of a design, a commensurate end in view, — 
namely, the development of man, the evolution of 
an immortal soul, — to make the wisdom of the law 
of organic evolution manifest to the common under- 
standing. To those, however, who choose to deny 
the existence of any such evidences of design, the 
structure of the physical universe and the display of 
its physical forces prove nothing but the existence 
of a blind, unintelligent energy, actuated by an iron 
necessity, in which man figures as an accidental 
and altogether insignificant product. To be entirely 
candid, it must be admiitted that when the physical 
forces of nature are alone considered, the atheistic 
view is not without a basis of reason. But when we 
consider in this connection the phenomena of mind, 
as exhibited in all sentient creatures, from the lowest 
unicellular organism up to man, the argument falls 
of its own weight. It is true that much in the phe- 
nomena of mind may be accounted for by reference 
to the law of heredity and the accidents of environ- 
ment, but not all. Heredity may be invoked to 
account for all that is thus transmissible, and en- 
vironment may account for modifications; but there 
are attributes of all sentient life which heredity can- 
not explain and which environment cannot modify. 
For instance, the immunity from fear of death on 
its near approach, or when it becomes inevitable, is 
a blessing that is enjoyed by all sentient creatures. 
And those physicians who are most familiar with 
death in all its forms assure us that in the process 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 3/ 

of dissolution no pain whatever is experienced. On 
the contrary, the sensations are evidently pleasur- 
able rather than painful. At least, no matter what 
form death may assume, all fear of it vanishes upon 
its near approach, and the victim dies '^ without pain 
and without regret'' (Hammond). 

Now, no one has ever been able to assign a bio- 
logical reason for this immunity. It stands apart 
from all other biological facts in that it appears to 
be valueless as a factor in the scheme of organic 
evolution, and yet it is as universal as sentient life 
itself. The fear of death is also universal; but it 
has its uses, which are obvious, as is the universal 
instinct of reproduction. Pain is also useful as a 
preservative of life, in that it stands as a sentinel to 
warn sentient creatures of imminent peril. But of 
what practical utility, from a biological point of 
view, is immunity from physical pain and mental 
agony, when the supreme moment arrives? It 
neither prolongs life nor shortens it for an instant, 
nor does it affect in the remotest degree the welfare 
of those that are left behind. Its only importance, 
therefore, pertains to the individual who experiences 
the sensation. Brief as it is, it is of supreme impor- 
tance to him. 

It is idle to say that a fact in nature so universal 
as this, is without commensurate significance; and 
since biological explanations fail we are driven to 
seek for ethical reasons. Nor are they hard to find. 
if we postulate a God of infinite love, mercy, and be- 
nevolence toward his creatures, and yet a God whose 
reign is of law. The law of evolution necessitates a 
struggle for life, ending in inevitable death. With- 



38 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

out the struggle there could be no improvement, no 
progressive development. Without universal death 
evolution would cease in a generation. Since, there- 
fore, all must die, is it not an appropriate measure 
of compensation or mitigation, to rob death of its 
terrors and its agony? It is, indeed, the only con- 
ceivable mitigation of the death penalty; and hu- 
man lawgivers in civilized countries exhaust the re- 
sources of science in an effort to devise means to 
insure a painless death for those whom the law has 
condemned to die. The quality of mercy thus 
evinced in human enactments is obviously identical 
in kind and purpose with the divine. It follows 
that the same logical conclusions are derivable from 
both, namely: A law that prodvices exclusively the 
results of mercy and benevolence, presupposes a lavu- 
giver who is endowed with intelligence and actuated 
by corresponding emotions. 

The pious Jacobi ^ once said in effect, '' Nature 
conceals God; man reveals God." This is emi- 
nently true as far as it goes, but it does not go far 
enough. If he had said that mind alone reveals God, 
he would have included all the indubitable revela- 
tions of the existence of an intelligent Deity that 
the universe affords; for the mind of the lowest 
unicellular organism presents evidence as conclusive 
of its divine origin as is found in the mind of man.^ 
If he had said that God reveals himself unmistaka- 
bly to man only in the sign-language of love, mercy, 
and benevolence, he would have expressed a great 
scientific truth. 

1 Quoted by Sir William Hamilton, Metaphysics, p. 29. 

2 See " The Divine Pedigree of Man." 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 39 

Cognate to these phenomena, in their beneficent 
characteristics, are those of mental heahng. One 
is for the benefit of the dying, and the other of 
the living. Considered separately, the phenomena 
of mental healing do not possess equal teleological 
significance with the phenomena immediately ac- 
companying dissolution, because the former may be 
considered merely as a part of the grand scheme 
by which life is conserved and evolution is made 
possible. Considered together, however, as all cog- 
nate phenomena must be considered, the evidential 
value of one series is carried over into the other. 
Hence we have a logical right to regard the quali- 
ties of mercy and benevolence, which are inseparable 
from the law of mental healing, as possessing equal 
teleological significance with the same qualities in 
the other class of phenomena. 

It is, however, no part of my purpose to formulate 
a teleological argument, per se, in this connection. I 
merely wish to draw attention to the grand scheme of 
benevolence to mankind involved in the law of mental 
healing. Whether we consider it a purposive scheme 
of benevolence on the part of an intelligent Deity, or 
as the accidental outcome of the operation of blind and 
unintelligent forces reacting upon each other, — that 
is to say, whether we consider it as a law of God 
or a law of nature, — the law exists ; and its effects 
are those of infinite mercy and benevolence toward 
all mankind. The laws of physical nature excite 
emotions of admiration and awe, and even reverence ; 
but they are tempered by the reflection that in their 
phenomenal manifestations they regard not the well- 
being or the life of man, and that the most sublime 



40 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

manifestation of nature's forces may be surcharged 
with irresistible ruin and death to thousands of hu- 
man beings. On the other hand, the law of mental 
healing stimulates equally the emotions of admira- 
tion, reverence, love, and gratitude, — admiration 
and reverence for its universality and its wisdom; 
love, for that behind it the Divine Father stands re- 
vealed; and gratitude, for that, in all its effects, 
his infinite love, mercy, and benevolence are made 
manifest. 

From a scientific point of view there is nothing 
in the broad realm of natural law that is more 
truly wonderful than the law of mental healing. 
Its simplicity has already been shown; and this 
alone is prima facie evidence of the validity of the 
three psychological propositions which constitute its 
formula. And, as in every other law of nature, 
this prima facie evidence becomes conclusive proof 
when the fact of universality is established. It is 
the fact of the universality of this law that ex- 
cites the wonder and extorts the admiration of the 
scientist, for the reason that it is adapted to every 
conceivable grade of human intelligence, from that 
of primitive savagery to that of the highest conceiv- 
able civilization. It is impossible to find words in 
which to express adequately the value to mankind of 
this stupendous fact. We may faintly realize it, how- 
ever, when we reflect that for untold ages sugges- 
tion was the only therapeutic agency available to 
man. Medicine, if we date its advent from Hip- 
pocrates, " the father of medicine,'' who flourished 
about 400 B. c, is a modern institution when com- 
pared with that long line of healers who wrought 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 41 

their therapeutic wonders by the aid of suggestion 
in its myriad forms. 

It would require many volumes of the size of this 
to catalogue the different methods of mental healing, 
ancient and modern, and point out how suggestion 
operates to effect a cure in each particular case. Nor 
is it necessary to do so; for the intelligent reader 
has already grasped the central idea that any form 
of belief which inspires the faith of the patient, when 
supplemented by a corresponding therapeutic sug- 
gestion, is efficacious as a therapeutic agency. In 
other words, conditions being favorable, anything 
that the patient has faith in is efficacious as a 
therapeutic agent. Thus, the fetich worshipper, who 
believes that a stick or a stone is inhabited by a 
powerful and beneficent spirit whose aid can be in- 
voked by certain ceremonies, may, by the perform- 
ance of the prescribed rites, be restored to health. 
Why? Simply because the ceremony constitutes a 
suggestion which inspires the faith and stimulates 
into normal activity and energy that central intelli- 
gence which controls the bodily functions. The 
North American Indian believes that evil spirits 
are responsible for all his diseases; and his medi- 
cine man tells him that he can frighten away said 
evil spirits by making hideous noises, supplemented 
by a diabolical make-up. He prepares himself ac- 
cordingly, and seating himself before the wigwam 
door, in full view of the patient, proceeds to make 
things unpleasant for all concerned, and positively 
unendurable for the evil spirit. The latter generally 
flees in the course of a day or two, leaving the 
patient to recover. I have authentic information 



42 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

from educated Indians, who assure me that, for 
" the poor Indian, whose untutored mind sees God 
in clouds or hears him in the wind," this method 
of healing is generally rnore effective than are the 
material remedies of the educated physician. It is 
scarcely necessary to remark that the suggestion 
embraced in his belief as to the cause of disease, 
together with the performance of the ceremony 
which he believed to be an effective way of re- 
moving the cause, was the all-sufficient therapeutic 
agency in the case of the North American Indian. 

It is obvious that the same remarks apply to all 
conceivable theories of causation and all forms of 
suggestion corresponding to the theories. They are 
all effective in exact proportion to their faith-inspir- 
ing potency. It is not surprising, therefore, that in 
the days of primitive humanity, when superstition 
was universal, there prevailed an indefinite number 
of effective methods of mental healing. 

Nor does it become the scientists of this enlight- 
ened age to scoff at the primitive beliefs and prac- 
tices of humanity in its infancy. It was the only 
therapeutic agency that was available to them; and 
if they builded better than they knew, it was be- 
cause God, in his infinite mercy, had instituted a 
law adapted to the therapeutic uses of every grade 
of human intelligence. It is equally reprehensible 
for us to inveigh against any of the innumerable 
systems of mental healing that prevail amidst the 
highest civilization of the twentieth century. They 
are all useful, and they are useful simply because 
each one is adapted to some special grade of intel- 
ligence. Besides, it must not be forgotten that 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 43 

primitive minds, with corresponding methods of 
thought and powers of reasoning, still exist in vast 
numbers in this as in all previous ages of mankind. 
It is, indeed, doubtful if primitive man ever en- 
tertained a superstitious belief that was more gross 
and grotesque than some that prevail at the present 
day and form the basis of popular and successful 
systems of mental therapeutics. Between the gross- 
est superstition and scientific truth there necessarily 
exist many gradations of human intelligence; and 
the fact that all grades exist together in the most 
civilized nations is due to the fact that civilization 
Itself is still in the formative stage. As the phylo- 
genetic history of the primordial germ is repeated, 
step by step, in the ontogenetic history of the germi- 
nal cell of man, so is every grade of the progressive 
development of civilization to be found existing to- 
gether in the most enlightened nations. It follows 
that variant theories and systems of mental healing 
are as likely to prevail now as they were in the days 
of primitive man. Accordingly we find a great and 
constantly increasing number of systems, each with 
an enthusiastic following. This could not be true 
were it not for the fact that they are all more or 
less successful mental healers. They could not be 
successful mental healers were they not able to 
induce the necessary mental conditions in their 
patients; and they could not induce the necessary 
conditions with any certainty of uniform results, 
were their systems, respectively, not adapted to the 
mental capacity of their followers. That is to say, 
the theory of causation and the form of suggestion 
in each case must, in order to produce the best re- 



44 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

suits, appeal to the beliefs, the habits of thought, or 
the prejudices of the patient; which is but another 
way of saying, what has already been dwelt upon, 
that suggestions are most effective when acting 
upon lines of least resistance. 

It IS true that the faith required for therapeutic 
purposes is the faith of the subjective mind; and, 
as that mind is controllable by the power of sug- 
gestion, it may be thus controlled even when the 
basic theory of causation is contrary to reason, ex- 
perience, and the evidence of the senses. But in 
such cases some emotion that is stronger in the 
mind of the patient than the micre love of scientific 
truth must be appealed to in order to make a thera- 
peutic suggestion effective. Thus, a strong desire 
or hope of renewed health will cause many to ignore 
all theories which may be entertained by the healer, 
however imbecile they may be; and by dissociating 
the therapeutic suggestion from the theory of causa- 
tion, they will be able to experience the benefits of 
the suggestion. This is comparatively easy for one 
who has had no scientific training, or in whom the 
love of scientific truth is subordinate to the egoistic 
emotions. The religious emotions are also potent 
factors in causing many to ignore an impossible 
theory, or even to believe it with hysterical fer- 
vency, when they are told that the theory is insep- 
arable from successful practice. 

Besides, there is a large class of people in every 
community the fervency of whose belief in theories 
that minister to their emotions is always in inverse 
proportion to the amount of evidence that can be 
adduced to sustain them. Hence it happens that 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 45 

those theories which command their most fervent 
belief, and are advocated with hysterical aggressive- 
ness, are invariably those which everybody knows 
to be untrue. 

Nevertheless, their system is exactly adapted to 
their mental capacity; and, speaking from a purely 
therapeutical standpoint, they are entitled to the 
undisturbed enjoyment of their beliefs and the bene- 
fits derivable therefrom. The law of mental heal- 
ing is as clearly for their benefit as it is for all other 
classes of people and grades of human intelligence. 
There is, indeed, a therapeutic value to them in 
being undisturbed in their beliefs; for experience 
shows that the efficacy of a therapeutic suggestion 
is weakened, and often destroyed, by disturbing the 
prejudices of the patient. Thus, it often happens 
that after a cure has been effected, the patient will 
totally relapse upon learning that the healer believes 
something against which the patient entertains a 
prejudice, or disbelieves in something which the 
patient believes, although the belief or the disbelief 
may not have the remotest connection with mental 
healing. This is especially true of religious beliefs 
and prejudices. Hence it was that the Master al- 
ways carefully avoided disturbing the religious prej- 
udices or beliefs of his patients. 

It is, therefore, worse than useless, from a thera- 
peutic point of view, to attempt to educate one of 
the classes referred to in the true science of mental 
therapeutics. As a rule, they have never been trained 
in scientific methods of investigation or in habits of 
clear thinking; and a palpable fact is considered by 
them as utterly valueless when it conflicts with some 



46 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

fantastical theory that ministers to their emotions. 
Besides, those who have sought to make a religion 
of mental healing are doing a good work; for, be- 
sides healing the sick, they have poured the balm of 
religious consolation into many a stricken heart, and 
made better men and women of many who were 
unable to assimilate any other form of religion. 
This is but another way of saying that their religion 
is adapted to the needs and capacity of those who 
can assimilate it. I have said that mental healing 
is not a religion, and for that statement I have the 
authority of the Master ; but that is not saying that 
true religion is not a powerful auxiliary to mental 
healing. All experience shows that it is; for it is 
not only a wonderfully efficacious form of sugges- 
tion, but it promotes that calm serenity of mind 
which is of the first importance in all systems of 
mental medicine. Prayer is also wonderfully effec- 
tive, for more reasons than one; but this subject 
cannot be discussed here. 

But, while mental healing is in no sense a religion, 
it is impossible for any right-minded person to re- 
flect upon the law of mental healing, its universality, 
its adaptability to all grades of human intelligence, 
together with its implications of divine love, mercy, 
and benevolence, without a feeling of the profound- 
est reverence for the Being whose wisdom and 
fatherhood is thus unmistakably manifested. It 
teaches humility, promotes religion, inspires grati- 
tude, and disarms prejudice against any form or 
process by which the law is made available for the 
alleviation of human suffering. 

It must not be inferred from the foregoing that 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 47 

all systems of mental healing are of equal value to 
mankind, for that would be equivalent to alleging 
that error and superstition are as potent for good 
as scientific truth. God has not thus equalized the 
value of truth and falsehood, or good and evil, for 
any purpose whatever. In primitive times, when 
all systems were based upon error, they may have 
been equally valuable as instruments of God's mercy 
to his children during the infancy of the human 
race, when truth was not available to any. But in 
an enlightened age, when many are seeking for 
truth with strenuous effort, and some are even find- 
ing it, the whole aspect is changed; for when once 
a fundamental truth is discovered, in any science, 
or in any field of human thought, all systems based 
upon error must eventually yield, however useful 
they may have been in their day and generation. 
Nothing is permanent but truth. Error loses its 
vitality in the sunlight of truth; and hence no 
human institution that is based upon a fundamental 
error can permanently endure in the presence of a 
fundamental truth. Wrong systems may endure for 
ages when sustained by interest or prejudice; but 
their incidental good effects become less and less in 
evidence, and finally vanish. This is especially true 
in the domain of mind, where everything depends 
upon mental attitudes and conditions. 

I have already shown how the effects of a valid 
therapeutic suggestion may be vitiated by the emo- 
tional prejudices of the patient. It is obvious that 
the same effect is likely to happen when a patient 
has been healed by a false system and afterwards 
learns that the system is based upon a fundamental 



48 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

error. Action and reaction are always equal. Hence, 
when a lover of truth reacts against a false system, 
the violence of the reaction is proportioned to the 
grotesque imbecility of the system. He simply loses 
faith in the false system when he learns the truth; 
and the effects are retroactive. It is obvious that 
there can be no such reaction against a system 
founded upon scientific truth. Reaction against an 
inductive science is impossible, for truth is eternal. 
Every step, therefore, is in advance; for every fresh 
discovery of fundamental truth formis the basis of 
a new departure into still higher realms of the same 
truth and its cognates. The reaction is, therefore, 
always against error when truth is once discovered 
and made manifest to the human understanding. 

There is, however, another reason for the want of 
permanency in the cures effected under false theories 
of causation. All, or nearly all, of them refer the 
power that effects the healing to some agency extra- 
neous to the patient himself. This, as I have already 
pointed out, is a fundamental error which Jesus com- 
bated with insistent iteration. It is not only false 
as a matter of demonstrable fact, but it is the pro- 
genitor of a whole train of false theories and con- 
clusions, some of which contain the germs of a 
destructive energy that is often fatal to the perma- 
nency of the cures effected under the hypothesis. 
The reason is that when a patient is once convinced 
that an extraneous power has interposed to effect 
his cure, he feels that he is in some way dependent 
upon that power for the future preservation of his 
health. He feels himself to be a helpless dependent 
upon the favor of some extraneous intelligence of 



VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF MENTAL HEALING 49 

which he knows nothing, except that its aid was 
once invoked in his behalf by some third person, 
namely, the healer. The result is that when the 
personality of the healer is removed, the patient be- 
gins to entertain doubts as to whether he may expect 
a continuance of the favor. Soon his doubts deepen 
into convictions, and when the expected unfavorable 
symptoms are felt, his convictions become certain- 
ties, and he feels that for some inscrutable reason 
he has forfeited the good-will of the healing agency. 
The result is a relapse. In one form or another this 
adverse factor is ever present with him who heeds 
not the words of the Master, but pins his faith upon 
some hypothetical healing power extraneous to him- 
self, and whose favor he cannot command. 

All this is, of course, in violent contrast to the 
true science of mental healing as it has been de- 
duced from the immutable laws of nature recently 
discovered by modern scientists. Of the existence 
of those laws there can be no room for rational 
doubt. They have been demonstrated by thousands 
of the most careful scientific experiments by the 
ablest living psychologists. Their universal applica- 
bility to the phenomena of mental healing has also 
been demonstrated by careful observation and ex- 
perimentation. That is to say, the existence of 
those psychological laws affords a scientific expla- 
nation of all the phenomena of mental healing. It 
shows why each and all methods are successful in 
the production of therapeutic results. 

The fact remains that there can be but one cor- 
rect method — or, to say the least, but one best 
method — of applying the law to the uses of mental 

. 4 



50 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

medicine. That method must necessarily be the 
one which is based upon demonstrable scientific 
truth ; the method which eliminates all taint of fraud, 
falsehood, and superstition; the method which ap- 
peals to the reason of both healer and patient. The 
faith of the patient being the primary mental con- 
dition sought, it is obviously more easily attained by 
an appeal to reason than to blind credulity. The 
effects are more permanent because there can never 
be a reaction against it caused by a discovery of 
fraud, deception, or a false suggestion. It is also 
more permanent because the science teaches man 
what he is. It reveals his inherent powers and 
points out his limitations. Most important of all 
in this connection is the fact that, in revealing man 
to himself, it teaches him that he can control the 
energy within himself which, in turn, controls his 
vital functions. 

These remarks apply, of course, only to those who 
love truth better than falsehood or error, and who 
are mentally capable of exercising the discrimina- 
tive power of induction; and they are not addressed 
to any other class of minds. 



THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 5 1 



CHAPTER IV 

THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 

Faith can be acquired by Study and Reasoning. — Thus acquired, it 
is perfect and permanent. — It is essential that the Healer be 
grounded in the Fundamental Principles of his Science. — The 
Phenomena of Dreams point to the Theory of the Dual Mind. — 
The Operations of the Dream Intelligence essentially different 
from those of Waking Consciousness. — The Subjective, or Dream 
Intelligence incapable of Inductive Reasoning, and controlled by 
Suggestion. — Rapidity of Subjective Mentation. — Hypnotism a 
Means by which Dreams can be induced, controlled, and experi- 
mented with. — It is the Instrument for the Investigation of the 
Problems of Psychology. — It has found in Man a Soul, and re- 
vealed the Evidence of its Divine Origin. — It has segregated the 
Phenomena of the Objective and Subjective Minds, and shown the 
Distinctive Powers and Limitations of Each. 

HAVING now stated in general outline the 
fundamental principles of mental medicine, 
and shown the universality of the law of nature 
under which is made possible the healing of the 
nations, it remains to deal more in detail with the 
fundamental propositions which constitute the basis 
of scientific mental healing. This becomes neces- 
sary for the reason that success in mental healing 
by scientific methods is best promoted by first ac- 
quiring a clear understanding of the law under 
which the healing is effected. In other words, sci- 
entific methods require scientific knowledge for their 
successful application. It is scarcely necessary to 



52 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICLXE 

observe that this is in violent contrast to the con- 
ditions required for success in mental healing by 
the unscientific methods to which we have alluded 
in the preceding chapter. Obviously a knowledge 
of science, or a capacity to reason, would handicap 
a healer who practises by methods involving an un- 
scientific theory of causation, especially one that in- 
volves the insensate denial of every fact of human 
experience. 

Nevertheless, faith is as essential to success in 
healing by scientific methods as by any other. But 
there are three advantages in this regard which are 
incident to scientific methods. The first is that 
the requisite faith can be acquired by study and 
reasoning; the second is that the faith is perfect, 
for the reason that it is acquired through knowledge 
and confirmed by reason; and the third is that the 
faith thus acquired and sanctioned becomes at once a 
permanent possession, because there can arise no ad- 
verse auto-suggestions from the objective mind to 
weaken its potency. 

It becomes, therefore, a matter of the first impor- 
tance for the healer to be well grounded in the 
fundamental principles underlying the science which 
he proposes to utilize; for he should be able to in- 
struct his patients in its fundamentals, to the end 
that he may be filled with the same kind and quality 
of faith that the healer possesses, — the faith born 
of knowledge of the law, and not of blind credulity. 
Otherwise he would enjoy no advantage not pos- 
sessed by the fetich worshipper. 

I shall, therefore, dwell at some length upon the 
evidence demonstrative of the truth of each of the 



THE DUPLEX MEXTAL ORGAXISM 53 

terms of our hypothesis, and incidentally upon some 
of the practical uses of the law in affairs of every- 
day life. 

First, then, of the duplex mental organism. 

Every one who has had a dream has in some 
measure realized the duplex character of his ovv'n 
mmd. He knows that the brain is the organ of the 
mind of ordinary waking consciousness ; but he 
knows that in sleep the brain is quiescent, — that, in 
fact, sleep is the condition in which that organ rests 
and recuperates. Yet he realizes that during that 
period of brain rest there is a mental energy in evi- 
dence that seems to act independently of the mind 
with whose normal operations he is acquainted. He 
can sometimes trace a connection between his wak- 
ing thoughts and his dreams; but he frequently 
realizes that the latter correspond to no possible 
human experience. At other times he becomes con- 
scious of the presence of a mental energy- which far 
transcends that of his normal experience or capac- 
ity, — a mind which can solve mathematical problems 
that are beyond the comipass of his normal powers. 
Again he becomes conscious that his dream intelli- 
gence is filled with the most sublime thoughts and 
is capable of clothing them in the most beautiful and 
appropriate language, — language that is far beyond 
his normal linguistic powers, — thoughts which were 
strangers to his normal consciousness. Sometimes 
the key to the most profound secrets of nature are 
thus revealed to him, and are thus made available 
for normal uses and practical exploitation. Again, 
dreams often reveal an apparent independence, on 
the part of the dream intelligence, of the space and 



54 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

time limitations with which one is normally ac- 
quainted. Thus, it is not uncommon for one to 
become aware, by means of dreams, of what is hap- 
pening to his near relatives and friends who are 
thousands of miles distant, with no possible means 
of communication between them through sensory 
channels. He thus becomes aware that his dream 
intelligence possesses powers and facilities for re- 
ceiving and cognizing intelligence from others not 
possessed by his normal intelligence. 

These facts alone seem to point to the theory of 
duality as a rational solution of the phenomena. 
But when we consider the limitations of the dream 
intelligence, we find still stronger evidence to the 
same effect. Thus, we find that it is constantly 
amenable to control by suggestion. This, too, is 
within the range of every one's experience. Every- 
body is aware that the dream intelligence never 
realizes the incongruity of the most ridiculously im- 
possible dream situations. No fact of human ex- 
perience weighs one hair against the suggestions 
arising from the sensations caused by an overloaded 
stomach. Reason abdicates her throne in the pres- 
ence of the vision of one's grandmother sporting 
seven heads and ten horns, and mounted upon a 
fiery and untamed saw-horse. The dreamer is 
neither surprised at the conduct of his grandmother 
nor at the character of her mount, and he never sus- 
pects that she is possessed of more than a normal 
number of heads and horns. 

It is obvious, therefore, that the dream intelli- 
gence is devoid of the power of inductive reason- 
ing, — which is but another way of saying that it is 



THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 55 

controlled by suggestion. And this we find it to 
be to a very remarkable degree. Thus, in a case 
cited by Abercrombie/ a bottle of hot water at the 
feet of the dreamer caused him to dream of walk- 
ing on the warm ground near the crater of Mount 
^tna. Another, whose bed-clothes were acciden- 
tally thrown off during the night in a cold room, 
dreamed of spending the winter at Hudson's Bay, 
and of suffering much from the intense frost.^ It 
is needless, however, to multiply cases, as few are 
exempt from such experiences. 

These phenomena can be accounted for on no 
other rational hypothesis than that of duality of 
mind. Two states of consciousness are certainly in 
evidence; and the phenomena are radically differ- 
ent, each from the other. So radical, indeed, are 
the differences, in both powers and limitations, be- 
tween the waking and the dream intelligences, that 
we are justified in assuming, for the purposes of a 
working hypothesis, that there are two separable, 
and therefore distinct, intelligences in man's mental 
organism. That there is a nexus between the two 
that enables them to act in perfect synchronism 
when occasion requires, is necessarily true. It is 
to this synchronism of action that we are indebted 
for what is designated as " genius." It is also in 
evidence on occasions of great importance to the 
individual, as when danger is imminent, or some 
great crisis is impending.^ 

1 Intellectual Powers, p. 216. 

2 Op. cit., p. 216. 

3 For a full discussion of these subjects, see ** The Law of Psychic 
Phenomena." 



56 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

There are other phenomena of dreams of great 
evidential importance, though less distinctly pointing 
to duality. The one about to be mentioned exhib- 
its powers of inconceivably rapid mentation pos- 
sessed by the dream intelligence. Dreams that are 
induced by percussive sounds, more frequently than 
any others, display this phenomenon in perfection. 
Thus, Professor Carpenter, of Boston, relates the 
following illustrative experience: The professor was 
at the house of a friend, and slept in a bedroom 
the door of which opened outward into the hall. 
It stood open during the night; and in the morn- 
ing some one opened a window at the end of the 
hall, letting in a draught of air that shut the pro- 
fessor's door with great violence. He instantly 
awoke, — so quickly, in fact, that when fulh^ awake 
he realized the cause of the concussion. In the 
meantime, however, he dreamed a dream the events 
of which would have required nearly a year of 
time in the happening. It v^as during the prog- 
ress of the late civil war, and at a time when con- 
scription was the order of the day. He dreamed 
that the dreaded order came, and his name was on 
the list. He tried to get it removed, but an exami- 
nation demonstrated his eligibility; and vrhen the 
drawing came off, his name, like Abou Ben Adhem's, 
'^ led all the rest.'' He then set to work to hire a 
substitute. But the fates were against him. When 
he could get a man, he could not raise the money; 
and when at last he raised the money, he could not 
find an eligible man. Finally, he was hustled into 
a uniform that did not fit, and was then transported 
to the State rendezvous, where he spent three miser- 



THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 5/ 

able months in drilling in the awkward squad. At 
the end of that time his regiment was ordered to 
Washington, where another three months was spent 
in acquiring a military education. He was then 
ordered to the front, where he was forced to endure 
the hardships of camp life for an indefinite period. 
In the midst of his monotonous misery he suddenly 
became aware that he was in the hottest part of a 
great battle. He was awakened to the realization 
of the situation by the sudden firing of a cannon, 
or the bursting of a shell, in his immediate vicinity. 
It was the slamming of the door that awoke him 
at once to a realization of his objective and his sub- 
jective surroundings. 

Abercrombie ^ relates a similar case that hap- 
pened in Edinburgh at a period when there was an 
alarm of French invasion, and almost every man in 
the city was a soldier. All things had been ar- 
ranged in expectation of the landing of an enemy; 
the first notice of which was to be given by a gun 
from the castle. The gentleman to whom the dream 
occurred, and who had been a most zealous volun- 
teer, was in bed between tv/o and three o'clock in 
the morning, when he dreamed of hearing the signal 
gun. He was immediately at the castle, witnessed 
the proceedings for displaying the signals that had 
been planned for arousing the whole surrounding 
country, and saw and heard a great bustle over the 
town from troops and artillery assembling, espe- 
cially in Princes Street. At this time he was roused 
by his wife, who awoke in a fright caused by a 
similar dream, connected with much noise and the 

1 Op. cit, p. 217. 



58 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

landing of an enemy. The origin of this remark- 
able concurrence was ascertained, in the morning, 
to be the noise produced by the fall of a pair of 
tongs upon the floor above.^ 

Many similar cases are related by the old psy- 
chologists, some of the dreams involving years of 
dream-time. The salient features of this class of 
dreams, to which attention is invited, are, first, that 
the sound that awakens the sleeper is identical with 
the sound that forms the culminating feature of the 
dream. This, of course, involves the apparent para- 
dox that the dream commenced after it ended. The 
paradoxical character of the proposition is, how- 

1 The first question that will naturally be asked by the psychical 
researcher will be : Were these concurrent dreams the result of 
telepathy ? The answer is : Possibly, but not necessarily. It is 
not even probable, for the reason that both were anticipating the 
signal gun, and the noise that caused the dreams was the same. 
Identical causes will always produce like effects, but not necessarily 
identical in detail ; and it is not alleged that the two dreams were 
identical in detail. In order to make a case for dream telepathy there 
should be no common cause, antecedent or immediate. An illustrative 
case came within the writer's experience. The salient feature of his 
dream was that he saw a white-faced ox passing through a narrow lane 
and entering an enclosure. The dream was very vivid, but was totally 
void of significance, for he was not in the habit of thinking of cattle, 
much less of possessing any interest in them, and had not consciously 
had them in his mind for years. Judge of his surprise when his wife 
related a dream the next morning in which a white-faced ox, passing 
through a narrow lane and entering an enclosure, was the salient fea- 
ture. There was absolutely no assignable cause, near or remote, for 
either dream; and yet they were both dreamed the same night ; and a 
comparison of recollections revealed the fact that the dreams were 
identical, not only as to the central figure, but as to its environmental 
details. The triviality of the subject-matter adds to its evidential value, 
for it is thus removed as far as possible fronv causes involving antici- 
pations, habits of thought, emotional excitation, or waking thoughts 
immediately antecedent. 



THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 59 

ever, at once removed when we consider the pecul- 
iar powers and hmitations of the dream intelligence, 
or subjective mind. As I have already pointed out, 
its powers of induction are nil; but its power of 
correct, logical deduction from suggested premises 
is potentially perfect. It is obvious that both sug- 
gestion and subsequent deduction are involved in 
this class of dreams. The sound constitutes the 
suggestion that a gun has been fired ; and from this 
accepted objective fact are deduced, in their order, 
all its antecedent causes, near and remote; the 
dreamer's habits of thought in reference to guns 
serving to give the trend to the deductions. Thus, 
the sound of a cannon suggested a great battle, 
which was immediately in evidence. A battle sug- 
gested a state of war and incidental camp life, with 
its accompanying hardships. Camp life suggested 
antecedent drilling, from which, in turn, were de- 
duced the rendezvous at the National Capital, the 
State rendezvous, the uniform, the conscription, the 
efforts to avoid it, the draft, etc., back to the be- 
ginning of the story. It follows that such dreams 
run backward; and that they are, therefore, nothing 
but a series of deductions from a series of sug- 
gested premises, beginning with the peripheral stim- 
ulus (auditory) which set the train in motion. It 
is, indeed, questionable if all dreams are not made 
up of series of deductions backward from the causal 
stimulus. The latter necessarily precedes the dream, 
as when the removal of the bed-clothes on a cold 
night causes a dream of a whole winter spent in an 
arctic climate. Be this as it may, it is evident that 
when the stimulus lasts but an instant, and begins 



6o THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

where the dream story ends, the latter must neces- 
sarily consist of a series of deductions as stated. 

The point, however, to which especial attention 
is invited is the inconceivable rapidity of mentation 
involved in dreaming a year-long dream, including 
an indefinite number of details, within an infinitesi- 
mal space of time. Thus, the time elapsing between 
the slamming of Professor Carpenter's door and his 
awakening to normal consciousness is inappreciable 
to the objective mind. Yet the dream, with all its 
details, was conceived within that point of time and 
strongly impressed upon the mind of waking con- 
sciousness. It is obvious that when the two ends of 
a dream are so close together in point of time, the 
objective mind, handicapped by its time and space 
limitations, could not possibly know at which end 
it commenced. Naturally, it interprets it in terms 
of its own experience, just as the mind sees objects 
right side up, although the images cast upon the 
retina of the eye are always inverted. 

These wonderful powers thus found to exist in- 
herent in the dream intelligence, together with its 
equally wonderful limitations, are in such marked 
contrast with those of normal consciousness that 
they constitute still further proofs of duality of 
mind. In fact, a complete analysis of the various 
classes of the phenomena of dreams would reveal 
ample evidence of duality, even without the aid of 
experimental hypnotism. With that aid it is easy 
to demonstrate the fact that for all practical pur- 
poses it is a safe hypothesis. Hypnotism, for pres- 
ent purposes, may be considered as a means of 
stimulating the activity of the dream intelligence, or 



THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 6 1 

subjective mind, testing its powers and ascertain- 
ing its limitations. In other words, hypnotism is 
a means by which dreams can be induced, controlled, 
and experimented with. It is to the human soul 
what the scalpel is to the human body. It is the 
instrument by which the soul can be dissected and 
its mysteries explored for the benefit of science. As 
the scalpel in unskilled hands may be made an in- 
strument of destruction, so may hypnotism in the 
hands of ignorance or charlatanism be made the 
instrument of untold evil to both body and soul. 
In the hands of the skilled and conscientious scien- 
tist hypnotism may be, and has been, the instrument 
of scientific investigation of the problems of the 
human soul. It has rescued psychology from the 
domain of speculative philosophy and made it an 
experimental, inductive science. It has invaded the 
realms of superstition and destroyed the food upon 
which it has battened throughout all the ages of man- 
kind. It has done this by revealing man to himself. 

It found in man a living soul. It segregated it 
from its objective environment, mental and physical, 
and analyzed its powers and revealed its limitations ; 
and, paradoxical as it may seem, it found, in both its 
powers and its seeming limitations, indubitable evi- 
dence of its divine origin ^ and of its immortality.^ 

All this it did — and much more — by the simple 
process of inducing in the subject a profound sleep, 
and then proceeding to experiment with that won- 
derful intelligence which, as we have seen, is most 
famiharly manifested to us in our dreams. Duality 

1 See " The Divine Pedigree of Man." 

2 See *' A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life." 



62 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

was thus demonstrated by proving that the highest 
distinctive powers of each mind were manifested 
only when the powers of the other were inhibited. 
Besides, the fact that they are segregable at all is 
sufficient evidence of duality, to say nothing of the 
distinctive powers and limitations of each. It is, 
in fact, only by means of these distinctive powers 
that we are enabled to know that they are segre- 
gable, or when segregation has been accomplished. 
That is to say, were it not for the distinctive powers, 
one mind or state of consciousness would be a mere 
duplication of the other, differing, perhaps, in de- 
grees of power, but not in kind. In that case the 
trance condition, spontaneous or induced, would be 
a mere exaltation of the objective powers, — a 
hyperesthesia of the physical senses. Braid, in- 
deed, attempted to show that the phenomena of 
mind-reading could all be thus accounted for. But 
later as well as earlier experimentation demonstrated 
the contrary, and not only firmly established telepa- 
thy upon a scientific basis, but definitely located the 
power in the subjective mind. 

This wonderful power, together with others not 
necessary to enumerate in this connection, served to 
differentiate the two minds or states of conscious- 
ness so clearly that duality became a hypothetical 
necessity. And what is true of the distinctive powers 
of the subjective mind may be repeated with multi- 
plied emphasis with reference to its limitations. Of 
these, the one which particularly interests the stu- 
dent of mental therapeutics is its constant amena- 
bility to control by the subtle power of suggestion. 
This subject, however, must be reserved for treat- 



THE DUPLEX MENTAL ORGANISM 63 

ment in subsequent chapters. It is sufficient for 
present purposes to note the fact that suggestibiHty, 
in the psychic sense, is a limitation pertaining ex- 
clusively to the subjective mind. The objective 
mind is hedged about by no such limitation, nor by 
anything remotely akin to it. It is mentioned here 
merely as one of the psychological discoveries of 
experimental hypnotism which swells the volume of 
evidence for duality of mind. 

It is entirely safe to say that not one fact has yet 
been brought to light, by the psychological experts 
of this or any other age, that disproves, or tends to 
disprove, the fundamental fact of the dual charac- 
ter of man's mental organism. It is equally safe to 
aver that there is not one fact or phenomenon within 
the whole range of the physical sciences that dis- 
proves, or tends to disprove, the fact of duality. In 
one of my former works ^ I collated a series of facts 
showing that experimental surgery had demonstrated 
the fact of duality. In another work ^ I brought the 
undisputed and indisputable facts of organic evolu- 
tion to bear upon the same subject with the same 
result. The discussion cannot be repeated here for 
obvious reasons. I can only say, in conclusion of 
this branch of the subject, that if the facts of psy- 
chology proper fail to convince, the facts of the 
physical sciences demonstrate the essential truth of 
my first proposition, — that man is endowed with a 
dual mind, objective and subjective. 

1 See "A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life," chap. xv. 

2 See " The Divine Pedigree of Man," part i., " Evolution and 
Psychology." 



CHAPTER V 
THE LAW OF SUGGESTION (HISTORICAL) 

A Law must be formulated in Terms indicating Universality before it 
can be made available for Scientific Purposes. — Antagonism of 
Conservative Science. — Opposition to Newton's Discovery. — The 
Laws of Duality of Mind and of Suggestion dimly perceived for^ 
Ages. — The two Laws Necessary Concomitants of each other. — 
The Recognition of their Relation a Prerequisite of their Formu- 
lation. — Jesus the First to promulgate the Law of Mental Healing. 
— His Declaration of the Therapeutic Potency of Faith confirmed 
by Modern Science. — Braid's Experiments in Hypnotism. ~ Lie- 
bault's Discovery of the Law of Suggestion. — This Law incomplete 
without the Law of Dual Mind, — The Importance of the Law of 
Suggestion outside the Field of Therapeutics. 

IT is axiomatic that nature's laws are of compar- 
atively little use to science, as means for the 
advancement of human knowledge, until they have 
been formulated. Formulation presupposes gener- 
alization, and generalization presumes universality. 
This presumption, however, is subject always to 
further investigation and to consequent disproof, 
and it is disproved when an exceptional case is dis- 
covered; for nature's laws are immutabla and 
admit of no exceptions. If, therefore, it is found 
not to be universal, it is not a law, and all conclu- 
sions based upon it must be revised. Nevertheless, 
a universal law must be formulated in terms indi- 
cating universality before it can be made generally 



THE LAW OF SUGGESTION 65 

available for scientific or practical uses. It may 
have been floating around loosely in human con- 
sciousness for ages, and it may have been found 
useful in specific cases by an indefinite number of 
individuals, and those individuals may each have 
formulated a law applicable to his own field of re- 
search; yet it is not universally available until some 
one collates the different classes of cases, and crys- 
tallizes the thought involved into a concrete form of 
human expression indicative of universality. 

When this is once accomplished, however, — such 
is the " conservatism of science,'' or the perversity 
of human nature, — the discovery is generally des- 
tined to encounter three successive stages of oppo- 
sition. First, it is met by a universal shout of 
derision. When that fails to disprove it, as it some- 
times does, everybody claims it as his own. When 
that is disproved, as it sometimes is, each claimant 
proceeds to cover himself with the dust of old libra- 
ries in an effort to prove that it was always known. 

Newton was not exempt from the usual course of 
opposition. His discovery was derided in scientific 
circles ; he was encountered by rival claimants ; vol- 
umes have been written to prove that there is no 
such force as the attraction of gravitation, and still 
others to prove that Newton did not discover 
** gravity,'' the proof being that the term had been 
in common use long before Newton was born. 
Nevertheless, no one has yet succeeded in robbing 
Newton of the credit of the discovery that the 
force which the world has consented to designate 
as ^' gravitation " acts with an energy proportioned 
directly as to the mass and inversely as to the square 

5 



66 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

of the distance; and that the formula is as appli- 
cable to the apple which falls to the earth as it is to 
the movements of the planets. Nor is the lustre of 
his name dimmed in the slightest degree by the 
fact that his discovery was made possible only by 
Kepler's previous discovery of the laws of the plane- 
tary orbits; nor by the fact that the success of his 
work finally depended upon Picard's correction of 
the old measurement of a degree of the earth's sur- 
face. All great discoveries are necessarily the re- 
sultants of all previous subsidiary discoveries. 

The laws of duality and suggestion furnish strik- 
ing examples of laws dimly perceived for ages, used 
by many, discovered in subsidiary sections, so to 
speak, and finally formulated as a universal law, and 
thus rendered available for the uses of all mankind. 

The great factor In the retardation of the final 
establishment of the two laws consisted In the fact 
that they are the necessary concomitants of each 
other. That is to say, suggestion is necessary to 
duality, and duality is Indispensable to suggestion. 
In other words, a clear conception of the law of 
suggestion, as It manifested Itself in its protean as- 
pects, was Impossible in the absence of the theory 
of duality; and, on the other hand, duality was in- 
conceivable in the absence of some salient point of 
differentiation between the hypothetical two minds 
or states of consciousness ; and suggestion furnished 
a point of differentiation so clear and unmistakable 
that duality became a logical as well as a psycho- 
logical necessity. Necessarily, until this concomitant 
interrelation of the two laws was clearly perceived, 
and they were formulated together as necessary parts 



THE LAW OF SUGGESTION 67 

of a psychological whole, the prevailing ideas on the 
subject were chaotic to the last degree. 

Thus, the theory of duality has been dimly float- 
ing around in the minds of various philosophers, 
from the time when Greek philosophy ruled the in- 
tellectual world until the present age, without seri- 
ously affecting the trend of psychological thought. 
The phenomena indicating it were, of course, the 
same as they are now, and the theory was often 
tentatively advanced. But religious thought was 
apparently hostile to it, and the arguments of the 
Church were at the time considered unanswerable. 
Thus, John Locke,^ in discussing the phenomena of 
dreams, puts into the mouth of an opponent, real 
or imaginary, the following paragraph, which is 
now known to be substantially true. 

'^ Perhaps it will be said," says Loeke, '* that in 
a waking man the materials of the body are em- 
ployed, and made use of, in thinking; and that the 
memory of thoughts is retained by the impressions 
that are made on the brain, and the traces there 
left after such thinking; but that in the thinking of 
the soul, which is not perceived in a sleeping man, 
there the soul thinks apart, and making no use of 
the organs of the body, leaves no impression on it, 
and consequently no memory of such thoughts.'' 

This position Mr. Locke strenuously repudiates, 
declares it absurd, and proceeds with an argument 
against it which, in turn, cannot now be character- 
ized by any milder term than that which he applied 
to the dual hypothesis. 

1 Human Understanding, vol. i. book ii. chap. i. p. 86, ed. 1884, 
London. 



68 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

The history of the dual hypothesis, however, is of 
little interest or scientific importance compared with 
that of the slow development of the idea which culmi- 
nated in the formulation of the law of suggestion. 

As I pointed out in the first chapter, Jesus of 
Nazareth was the first to give authoritative utter- 
ance to that divine law of mental healing which it 
has taken science nineteen hundred years to redis- 
cover. Jesus was not a scientist, in the modern 
sense of the word, and he did not attempt to teach 
his followers by the employment of scientific terms. 
He simply told them the truth in language that they 
could comprehend ; and when he stated to them that 
*' faith " was the mental attitude essential to success- 
ful mental healing, he epitomized in that one word 
the whole law of therapeutic suggestion. What is 
the essence of the law of suggestion? It certainly 
does not consist of a formula built up of words. 
Words are merely the vehicle of expression by which 
one may be made to comprehend the law. What, 
then, is the central idea embraced in the law of sug- 
gestion? It is simply that a certain belief, to wit, 
a belief in the efficacy of the particular therapeutic 
agency at hand, has a therapeutic potency. This is 
all that can be expressed in any form of words ; and 
the word ^* faith,'' as Jesus employed it, conveyed 
the central idea so clearly that no one has ever mis- 
taken its exact meaning. 

Jesus expressed the same idea in different words 
when speaking of prayer : ^^ Therefore I say unto you, 
All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that 
ye have received them, and ye shall have them." ^ 

1 Mark xi. 24 (R. V.). 



THE LAW OF SUGGESTION 69 

Obviously this passage cannot be construed as 
referring to material benefits, for that would de- 
grade it into a manifest absurdity; and the Master 
never uttered absurdities. Every word of his was 
pregnant with significance, and this passage is espe- 
cially charged therewith. Let us analyze it. 

It is self-evident, in the first place, that the 
blessings referred to as conditionally awaiting the 
suppliant must be either spiritual or therapeutic 
blessings, or both. They are certainly such as reach 
the suppliant through the mind; for their realiza- 
tion is distinctly conditioned upon a certain definite 
mental attitude on the part of the suppliant. That 
condition is simply belief, — otherwise, faith. The 
passage, therefore, is simply another way of reiter- 
ating his doctrine that faith is the one essential con- 
dition precedent to the realization of benefits that 
reach the individual through the mind. It is an- 
other way of saying that '' the prayer of faith shall 
be answered.'' Moreover, it distinctly excludes the 
idea that material benefits, such as houses, lands, or 
money, may thus be attained through prayer; for, 
obviously, no attitude of mind is capable, per se, 
of producing a house and lot or a herd of cattle. 
It also excjudes the idea of special, rairagilous in- 
tervention in answer Jo prayer; for the conditions 
pertain exclusively to the mental attitude of the sup- 
pliant. But it does not exclude the implication that 
prayer is an effective therapeutic agent. 

It must suffice to note the fact, in this connection, 
that Jesus evinced a clear comprehension of the cen- 
tral idea involved in the law of suggestion, and in- 
sistently proclaimed it on every suitable occasion. 



70 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

That it was practically lost to science for more 
than eighteen hundred years, was due to the preva- 
lent materialistic skepticism. That it was not wholly 
lost is due to the vitality of truth. The words of 
the Master were, in fact, never wholly lost to view, 
even by scientists ; and the principle has often found 
a partial expression by scientists who sought to 
conceal the origin of their ideas by coining a new 
terminology. Thus, the "' expectant attention '' of 
Carpenter was hailed as a triumph of science, and 
figured largely in its vocabulary for many years, 
although it was a mere substitute for the word 
'*' faith," and accounted for the same phenomena. 
" Imagination '' is another word that has performed 
yeoman's service in the vocabulary of science. It 
has been invoked, " time whereof the memory of 
man runneth not to the contrary," to account " sci- 
entifically " for cures effected without the use of 
material remedies, and then dismissed with lofty 
contempt, as a subject unworthy of the attention of 
science. Thus the French Academy, in its report 
on Mesmerism, admitted that marvellous cures had 
been effected, but learnedly attributed the result 
to " imagination," and thus dismissed the subject 
as imworthy the further attention of science. Ob- 
viously, the word was a mere substitute for that 
employed by the Master; and a very awkward sub- 
stitute it was. h 

The employment of the term '^ suggestion," on 
the other hand, is not a substitution of one term for 
another, each being descriptive of a definite mental 
condition. On the contrary, it is a tacit recognition 
of the fact that faith is the essential condition, and 



THE LAW OF SUGGESTION 7 1 

the term itself is merely descriptive of the process 
necessary to induce that condition. As such, it was 
a distinct advance in psychic science, even when the 
law was first formulated as pertaining solely to hyp- 
notism. Its principal value, however, consisted in 
that it was the beginning of the mental process by 
which the idea finally became crystallized into a for- 
mula expressive of a universal law. To Liebault, 
of Nancy, belongs the credit of taking this first dis- 
tinctive step, leading to the discovery of its univer- 
sality. The credit has been assigned to Braid, of 
Manchester, notably by Bernheim,^ of Nancy, who 
was himself indebted to Liebault for all that he 
knew of hypnotism. It is true that the world is 
much indebted to Braid, first, for making hypnotism 
respectable by giving it a name, secondly, by invent- 
ing a new method of inducing the condition, and 
thirdly, by making a series of experiments illustra- 
tive of the suggestibility of hypnotized persons. 
But it does not seem that he did more than show 
that the faith requisite for successful mental healing 
could be induced in a patient's mind by any kind of 
statement, true or false, provided the hypnotic con- 
dition could be first induced. But Paracelsus made a 
broader discovery than that three hundred years be- 
fore Braid was born ; for he distinctly intimated that 
a false belief,^ however induced, is just as efficacious 
for therapeutic purposes as a true one, — " faith " 
being the sole condition precedent; and Pompo- 
nazzi,^ in the sixteenth century, gave utterance to 

1 See "Suggestive Therapeutics." 

2 See "The Law of Psychic Phenomena/' pp. 147, 148. 

3 Op. cit. 



^2 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

expressions of identical import. Neither of these 
old writers, of course, knew anything of hypnotism; 
but they knew what Braid did not know, namely, 
that the therapeutic effect of faith is not limited by 
methods of inducing it, much less by abnormal psy- 
chical conditions. 

But even after the law had been formulated by 
Liebault, the mystery surrounding mental therapeu- 
tics was not dispelled. It was simply shifted to an- 
other point of view without increasing the light. Up 
to that time hypnotism, per se, was supposed to be, 
in some mysterious way, the curative agent. When 
asked for an explanation of its therapeutic potency, 
the only reply elicited was that it was hypnotism that 
did the work. In this respect they were far behind 
the mesmerists, for they at least had a working 
hypothesis. Right or wrong, they had a theory of 
causation that had many facts to support it. Ani- 
mal magnetism, or the theory of fluidic emanations 
from the healer, impinging upon the patient, had at 
least the merit of a valid working hypothesis. This 
hypothetical fluid, it was held, by its mysterious in- 
fluence upon the vital principle, re-established func- 
tional harmony; and the logic of analogy was 
invoked in a comparison of its methods and its 
benefits to those of light, heat, and electricity. But 
" science '' rejected the theory with hysterical indig- 
nation, and persistently denied the phenomena until 
Braid showed that he could reproduce a small part 
of the phenomena by processes that excluded the 
fluidic theory. But his master stroke consisted in 
giving it a new name which implied no theory of 
causation except that of sleep. This at once placed 



THE LAW OF SUGGESTION 73 

the whole subject upon '' a scientific basis; '' for not 
only was the name borrowed from the Greek, but it 
implied no theory of causation beyond what was 
tangible to the senses. The patients slept, and were 
cured, and that was all there was of it. And so it 
remained for about forty years, when Liebault for- 
mulated the theory of suggestion. This was resisted 
for a time by rival schools, but its truth was so obvi- 
ous and so easily demonstrable that its opponents 
were at last forced to yield. This, of course, sup- 
plied a long-felt want, namely, a theory of causation 
for hypnotic phenomena; and again hypnotism was 
placed upon a '' firm scientific basis." 

But this, in turn, was unsatisfactory to the rigidly 
scientific mind and conscience. It was an explana- 
tion that did not explain. It simply removed the 
explanation one step farther back, and thereby deep- 
ened the mystery. 

It is undeniable that in suggestion a mental process 
is found for inducing in the patient the prerequisite 
mental condition for healing him, namely, faith. But 
it is obvious that it is not the suggestion itself that 
does the healing, although we are frequently given 
to understand that it is. To read a work of the 
early suggestive therapeutists, one would imagine 
that '* suggestion '' was an entity that does things. 
Hence we are told that suggestion does this and does 
that; and that is all the explanation they are able 
to give of the science of mental healing. In other 
words, the rationale of suggestion is not in evi- 
dence in their working hypothesis. Nevertheless, 
it has done, and is still doing, a great work; and 
it constituted a gigantic stride in the evolution 



74 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

of experimental psychology as applied to mental 
medicine. 

But, as I have already pointed out, it required 
the theory of the dual mind to complete the work- 
ing hypothesis for mental healing. Under no other 
theory, or possible theory, can it be explained why 
a suggestion is able to induce the requisite mental 
condition. To say that it works its results by '' ex- 
citing the imagination of the patient '' is to employ 
a phrase of indefinite meaning where an intelligent 
entity is indicated. A suggestion is a statement 
made by one intelligent being to another presuma- 
bly intelligent being; otherwise it could produce no 
result, physical or mental. A therapeutic sugges- 
tion, in order to be effective, must be a statement 
addressed to an intelligence whose faith can be stim- 
ulated, and who possesses the power to carry the 
suggestion into effect. Such an intelligence is found 
in the subjective mind of man. In short, the " vital 
principle'' of which scientists in all ages have dis- 
coursed so learnedly, is an intelligent entity, — or 
at least an organized intelligence, — controllable by 
suggestion, and invested with full power to control 
the vital functions. 

That this is true is attested by all the facts of 
psychological science pertaining to the subject-mat- 
ter. Not one fact of either mental or physical 
science militates against it. I submit, therefore, 
that, if true, the dual theory is another step in ad- 
vance toward placing mental medicine upon a scien- 
tific basis, in that it shows why suggestion is an 
effective agency in the cure of disease. 

But another step is required before suggestive 



THE LAW OF SUGGESTION 75 

therapeutics can be truly said to be invested with 
the dignity of a science. It still remains to show 
how the subjective intelligence is enabled to produce 
its wonderful therapeutic results. Of course, this 
can be done only approximately, by showing that 
the necessary and appropriate machinery exists in 
all sentient organisms for that purpose. I have al- 
ready hinted at the subject; but a full discussion 
of it must be reserved until the third term of our 
therapeutic formula is reached in its order. 

In the meantime enough has been said to justify 
provisionally the broad generalization of the law 
of suggestion embraced in the second term of our 
formula, namely, that '' the subjective mind is con- 
stantly amenable to control by the power of sugges- 
tion," and this without reference to the states or 
conditions, hypnotic or otherwise, of the objective 
mind. 

Let me make myself clear upon this point, for its 
practical significance is as broad as the realm of 
human intelligence. Bernheim, in pursuance of the 
then prevailing theory limiting the scope of the law 
of suggestion to definite pre-existent states or con- 
ditions, defines hypnotism as ^^ the induction of a 
peculiar psychical condition which increases the sus- 
ceptibility to suggestion." ^ (The italics are mine.) 
He had previously noted that certain persons were sus- 
ceptible of suggestion in their apparently normal state, 
to a more or less limited extent; and he also knew 
that hypnotized persons are, as a rule, more easily 
controlled by suggestion than they are in a normal 
state. Hence his apparently correct conclusion that 

1 Suggestive Therapeutics, p. 15. 



^6 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

hypnotism merely increases the susceptibihty to sug- 
gestion. But therein lurks a fundamental error, for 
it implies a limitation that does not exist. It would 
be more exact and truthful to define hypnotism as 
'' the induction of a peculiar psychical condition 
which '' releases the stibjective mind from the domi- 
nance of adverse auto-siiggestions. 

The subjective mind is '' constantly '' controllable, 
and controlled, by suggestions, coming either from 
without or from within, the latter arising from habits 
of thought, or settled principles, or convictions, or 
prejudices, as I have pointed out in previous chap- 
ters. They are termed auto-suggestions, or self-sug- 
gestions, and they often prevail against suggestions 
from others. As in all other contending forces of 
nature, the stronger necessarily prevails. Obviously 
it was the lack of a clear conception of this funda- 
mental principle that led the Liebault-Bernheim school 
of suggestionists to assume limitations to the law of 
suggestion, or, what was equally unscientific, to im- 
agine that there can be exceptions to a law of nature. 

It must be said in extenuation, however, that when 
they began their investigations the prevailing ideas 
were in a chaotic state; and further, that, for the 
mere purposes of practical therapeutics, the hypothe- 
sis, as they formulated it, was sufficiently near the 
truth to give them the machinery of suggestion to 
work with. 

On the other hand, now that it is known to be a 
universal law of the subjective mind, it is at once 
seen that its field of usefulness is as wide as the 
domain of human thought; and that, of all the laws 
of the human soul, the law of suggestion is the most 



THE LAW OF SUGGESTION 7/ 

important, so long as it inhabits the mortal body. 
I have elsewhere^ shown that amenability to sug- 
gestion is a limitation pertaining solely to this life, 
and that in the future life it is no longer in evidence, 
the soul being endowed with the Godlike power of 
intuitive perception of all truth pertaining to its well- 
being and its stage of development. I cannot repeat 
the discussion here for obvious reasons. It must suf- 
fice, in this connection, to point out some of its uses 
in this life outside the domain of mental therapeu- 
tics. Nor will the intelligent reader be surprised 
when he is told that the law of suggestion is a factor 
of equal importance in every other field of human 
activity. For instance, it is the one all-important 
factor in the education and development of children, 
morally as well as intellectually. As in mental thera- 
peutics, it has been ignorantly employed throughout 
all the ages, and its variant effects have resulted 
from the accidents of environmental conditions, and 
not from a knowledge of the law itself, — in igno- 
rance, in fact, of its existence. Nevertheless, the 
law existed from the very beginning of sentient life, 
and it has performed its mission as a civilizing agent 
in all the variant stages of human development. As 
in mental therapeutics, it is adapted to all conditions, 
and performs its humanizing mission in spite of 
ignorance and superstition. But, again as in mental 
therapeutics, certainty and permanency of results can 
be achieved only when man understands the law and 
intelligently applies it to its legitimate uses. When 
that knowledge is attained, every mother will have 
in her own hands an easy and absolutely certain 

1 See '^ A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life." 



78 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

means of controlling the energies of her children 
and directing them into whatever channels of activ- 
ity she may elect. It is axiomatic that " knowledge 
is powxr/' and '' know thyself '' is a time-honored 
injunction to mankind. Combining them, it may be 
truly said that to " know thyself '' is the certain 
means of obtaining power and dominion over others. 
Without unduly anticipating what is to be said in 
future chapters of this book, it may be said that 
when the parent is armed with a knowledge of the 
law of suggestion he is possessed of the means, not 
only of directing and controlling the general educa- 
tion of his children, but of directing the moral trend, 
anticipating bad habits or curing them when formed, 
removing undesirable or vicious traits of character, 
inspiring industry and ambition, and even of remov- 
ing or neutralizing the mental or moral obliquities 
due to heredity. 

Nor are the mental and moral effects of sugges- 
tion confined to the young; for adult criminals may 
thus be reformed and restored to usefulness, although 
with less certainty of immediate results. Bad habits 
may be eradicated in the adult, as well as in the child, 
by the judicious employment of suggestion. Other 
things being equal, the effect is the same. 

Nor is this all ; for good suggestions, of whatever 
character they may be, or to whomsoever they may 
be addressed, invariably react upon the character of 
the suggester. It is impossible for one to suggest 
moral principles to another without being morally 
benefited himself. It is impossible for one to be a 
drunkard when he is employing suggestion for the 
eradication of drinking habits in another. I have 



THE LA W OF SUGGESTION 79 

known men to be utterly unable to bear the smell or 
taste of liquor after making a series of strong and 
vigorous suggestions to a drunkard that the taste or 
smell of liquor would thereafter make him sick. I 
knew one — a moderate but habitual user of intoxi- 
cants — to be made violently ill by taking a small 
drink of whiskey after making such a series of sug- 
gestions to a drunkard. This occurred to him three 
times in succession before he divined the cause. He 
was an amateur suggestionist, and not well grounded 
in the principles of the science he was practising. 
Otherwise he would have known that under the law 
of duality an auto-suggestion is as effective as a sug- 
gestion from another. The objective mind suggests, 
and the subjective mind accepts and believes the sug- 
gestion and performs its functions accordingly. In 
other words, it takes note of the suggestion made to 
another as to the effect of liquor upon him, and with 
the inexorable deductive logic of the subjective mind, 
it deduces the conclusion that the taste of liquor will 
make anybody sick. 

I have known several hypnotists who lost their 
former drinking capacity after treating others for 
the eradication of the habit. Some of them realized 
the reason, and some did not — which is but another 
way of saying that some knew less than others about 
the intricate workings of the law of suggestion. I 
have, in fact, never known one who has been able to 
retain his capacity to drink liquor, even moderately, 
after treating others for the habit of drunkenness, 
without a determined effort to do so, — that is to 
say, by resorting to a course of vigorous auto- 
suggestions. 



8o THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

It will thus be seen that auto-suggestions are as 
effective for the eradication of bad habits as are the 
suggestions of others; and I unhesitatingly afifirm 
that any one can thus relieve himself of any habit 
he sincerely desires to get rid of. But it often hap- 
pens that the patient has no real desire to be rid of 
his habit; and this constitutes an adverse auto-sug- 
gestion which necessarily defeats the object. The 
same remark applies to all suggestions for the eradi- 
cation of habits, from whatever source they may 
emanate. 

This, however, is a slight digression. The point 
which it is desired to enforce is that all suggestions 
to a patient react upon the one who makes the sug- 
gestion. As has been before remarked, action and 
reaction are always equal; and the principle is as 
true of mental as of physical energy. As the teacher 
is benefited by fixing the lesson taught more firmly 
in his own mind, so is a suggestion, moral or thera- 
peutical, beneficial to him who makes it. Like the 
quality of mercy, '' it is twice blessed ; it blesseth 
him that gives and him that takes." 



CHAPTER VI 

SUGGESTION IN LOWER ANIMAL LIFE 

Evidence for the Laws of Duality of Mind and of Suggestion must be 
found in Lower Animals. — The Subjective the Primordial Mind. — 
The Brain a Product of Evolution. — The Subjective the Mind of 
Instinct and Intuition. — Necessity for Secondary Instincts. — In- 
duction in Lower Animals. — Secondary Instincts created by the 
Objective Mind. — The Mental Processes Involved. — All Evolu- 
tionary Development of Animal Intelligence due to Suggestion. — 
The Law of Suggestion an Essential Factor in the Progress of 
Civilization. — It is the One Available Means whereby Man may 
neutralize the Evils due to Heredity. 

IF the most rigid adherent to the strictest rules 
of scientific, inductive investigation of the phe- 
nomena of nature were to be asked to name the kind 
and amount of evidence necessary to demonstrate 
scientifically the truth of the proposition that amena- 
bility to suggestion is a universal limitation of the 
subjective mind, he would doubtless reply that it must 
be clearly shown that the law embraces the lower ani- 
mals, and that no amount of research or quality of 
evidence that did not include the lower animals 
could possibly establish so broad a generalization, 
no matter how strong the evidence might be that it 
is a universal limitation of man's subjective powers. 
Otherwise it might eventually be found to be a 
phenomenon incident alone to the environmental 
conditions with which man is surrounded, and not 
a universal law of the subjective mind. In other 



82 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

words, if it is a universal law of the subjective mind 
it must apply to all subjective minds, of whatever 
grade of intelligence. It follows that if it cannot 
be shown that animals are subject to the law of sug- 
gestion in precisely the same way that man is, the 
idea that it is a universal law must be abandoned. 
On the other hand, our most rigid scientist would 
admit that if it can be shown that, allowing for the 
difference in the grade of intelligence, the law applies 
to the lower animals the same as it does to the human 
species, it can be fairly claimed that the universality 
of the law of suggestion has been demonstrated as 
clearly as any psychological proposition is demon- 
strable. The same remark applies to the law of 
duality. In fact, since duality and suggestion are 
correlative propositions, as I have already pointed 
out, they must stand or fall together, from whatever 
point of view they may be considered. 

The first question, then, to be determined is. What 
evidence exists to show duality in the mental organ- 
ism of the lower animals; or, in other words, what 
evidence exists to show that they are endowed with 
the subjective mind as distinguished from the objec- 
tive mind? To this the broad answer must be re- 
turned, provisionally, that all the facts of organic 
evolution, physical and mental, conspire to demon- 
strate the proposition. The scientific evolutionist 
will at once admit that duality in man presupposes 
the same in his earthly ancestors. If man is de- 
scended from the lower animals, — and no scientist 
now pretends to doubt the truth of that proposition, 
— it necessarily follows that all the salient charac- 
teristics of man's mental organism exist, in embryo, 



SUGGESTION IN LOWER ANIMAL LIFE 83 

in that of his humble progenitors. Besides, it is a 
time-worn proposition of evolutionary science that 
the potentialities of manhood reside in the lowest 
unicellular organism. 

In point of fact, the most conclusive evidence of 
the existence of a subjective mind — and conse- 
quently of duality — is found in the lower animals, 
from the moneron to man; for in tracing the an- 
cestry of man backward to the first manifestation 
of life and mind in unorganized (Haeckel) proto- 
plasm (the monera), we find that the subjective 
mind antedated the objective mind by untold mil- 
lions of years. Haeckel tells us that during more 
than one half of all the millions of years that have 
elapsed since the beginning of organic life on this 
planet, no animal possessing a brain was in exist- 
ence. It follows that the brain is a product of or- 
ganic evolution. Like every other physical organ, 
it was evolved in response to a necessity, — to supply 
a long- felt want, to serve a purpose for which the 
subjective mind was not adapted. The latter is the 
mind of instinct in the lower animals, the mind of 
intuition in man, — which is a distinction without a 
real difference in function. The primary instincts 
with which it was endowed were sufficient for the 
ordinary purposes of animal life in its native en- 
vironment; but as animals grew in number and 
variety, environmental conditions were constantly 
changing, and new or secondary instincts were re- 
quired to enable the animals to adapt themselves to 
new environments. All biologists ^ agree that ani- 

1 See quotations from Darwin, Romanes, and others, in "The 
Divine Pedigree of Man," where this subject is more fully elucidated. 



84 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

mals require secondary instincts, that is, new in- 
stincts, for this purpose, and that they acquire them 
by a definite process; that is to say, they first meet 
the new conditions, wants, dangers, etc. " intelU- 
gently,'' and after the new habits thus acquired have 
been practised for several generations, these habits 
become crystallized into instincts, and are thencefor- 
ward inherited the same as the primary instincts. It 
will thus be seen that they tacitly admit that there are 
two grades or kinds of intelligence in evidence even 
in the lower animals, namely, instinctive intelligence, 
and the other kind, which they do not name. But, 
as I have shown elsewhere,^ they are hopelessly at 
sea as to when this new intelligence, which is thus 
able to cope with new environments and to educate 
the instinctive intelligence, came into existence, and 
how it performs its functions; in other words, they 
are hopelessly at variance as to when animals began 
to reason. 

The dual hypothesis, however, renders a solution 
of these problems perfectly obvious, for we have 
only to refer to the facts of experience to enable us 
to find it. Thus, we know that the brain is the 
organ of the reasoning mind; that that mind alone 
is endowed with inductive powers, and that it is 
only by the exercise of these powers that we are 
enabled to cope with the constantly changing en- 
vironmental conditions of physical life. We know 
that the greater our inductive powers are, the more 
perfectly we are armed for the '' struggle for life," 
— which is a struggle to overcome or adapt our- 
selves to adverse environmental conditions ; and w^e 

1 Op. cit. 



SUGGESTION IN LOWER ANIMAL LIFE 85 

know that in the entire absence of these powers we 
should be as helpless as the amoebae. We know, 
therefore, that the mind of which the brain is the 
organ is especially adapted to the necessities of a 
physical life; and we infer, with unanswerable logic, 
that the brain, with its highly specialized powers 
and functions, was a product of organic evolution. 
Moreover, we are confirmed in this induction by 
the fact that it appeared at the opportune moment, 
— that is to say, when it became a necessity as a 
means of promoting the further progressive devel- 
opment of organic life. From that moment mere 
brute force ceased to be the only factor in the sur- 
vival of the fittest. Induction supplanted it just in 
proportion to the development of that power, until 
in man it is the predominant factor; for it not only 
gives him dominion over the whole brute creation, 
but over the forces of nature. In other words, it 
enables him to create his own environment in defi- 
ance of adverse conditions. 

Let me not be misunderstood in reference to the 
inductive powers of the lower animals. Induction 
is simply the process of estimating the relative and 
the cumulative values of facts. In its higher de- 
velopment it enables us to learn something of the 
laws of nature and to harness its forces for the uses 
of mankind. Its simplest processes are employed in 
discriminating between two or more facts, and the 
first brain that was developed in animal life on this 
planet performed that function. It was feeble, of 
course, but it served its purpose, for the animal 
with brains survived and soon dominated the or- 
ganic world. Feeble as were its powers in the be- 



86 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

ginning, it was able to educate the subjective mind, 
and thus create or develop secondary instincts adapted 
to new and constantly changing environmental con- 
ditions. The result was what one would have a right 
to expect under the theory of the dominating influ- 
ence of the objective mind; namely, the animals that 
possess the greatest objective intelligence are invari- 
ably endowed with the most complex instincts. All 
modern biologists now admit that this is a rule with- 
out a known exception. 

It follows that the objective mind is the dominat- 
ing factor in the mental organism of the lower ani- 
mals just the same as it is in that of man, and that 
the vast congeries of complex secondary instincts 
with which men and animals are endowed originated 
in each case in the objective mind. How? Let Dar- 
win answer : '' Intelligent actions, after being per- 
formed during several generations, become converted 
into instincts and are inherited, as when birds on 
oceanic islands learn to avoid man." ^ Romanes ex- 
tends the same principle in the following language: 
" Intelligent adjustments when frequently performed 
become automatic in the individual, and next they 
are inherited till they become automatic habits in 
the race." ^ 

Darwin's reference to the birds on oceanic islands 
points to a very apt illustration of the principle under 
consideration. When the white man first made his 
appearance on those hitherto uninhabited islands, he 
found the native birds to be devoid of the fear of 
man. Having never seen one, they were unaware 

1 Descent of Man, p. 67 (Appletons* ed., 1896). 
'^ Mental Evolution in Animals, p. 268. 



SUGGESTION IN LOWER ANIMAL LIFE 87 

that the human biped in his savage and semi-savage 
state is the natural enemy of all birds; but they soon 
learned the lesson, and they learned, moreover, that 
he was armed with a weapon that was fatal to birds 
at long distances. The result was that they soon in- 
telligently adapted themselves to the new environ- 
mental conditions, — that is, they avoided the new 
danger, by making themselves exceedingly scarce in 
the immediate vicinity of the *^ man behind the gun/' 
It is further alleged that they very soon learned to 
measure with great accuracy the effective range of 
the guns, — just as our native crows have learned 
to know the same thing, and, moreover, to keep pace 
with modern improvements in fire-arms. 

It is further stated, with reference to the sea-island 
birds, that the generations of young birds born im- 
mediately subsequent to the advent of man were as 
fearless in presence of the latter as were their ances- 
tors when man first invaded their habitat, and re- 
mained so until they were educated by the example 
of the older birds, or learned the lesson from their 
own experience. Nevertheless, after an ''intelli- 
gent " avoidance of the new danger '' during sev- 
eral generations,'' the fear of man was converted 
into an inheritable instinct, and thereafter the 
youngest bird was as fearful of his enemy as was 
his most experienced ancestor. 

The question now is. What were the mental proc- 
esses employed in the creation of the new instinct? 
Obviously the first step involved was the exercise of 
the powers of induction ; for there were at least three 
facts to correlate and a conclusion to be drawn. The 
first fact was the man, the second was the gun, and 



88 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

the third was the effective range of the gun ; and the 
conclusion was that within certain Hmits of distance, 
which the bird was able to measure or estimate with 
practical exactitude, the man and the gun consti- 
tuted a combination that was fatal to birds. Whether 
the bird was able to consider the man and the gun 
as separate or separable factors in the combination, 
our informant does not state. But it is well known 
to every American farmer's boy that our native crow 
is able to perform that inductive feat ; that is to say, 
he knows that the crow is provokingly fearless of 
man when the latter is without a gun and corre- 
spondingly shy when the fatal combination is in evi- 
dence. Moreover, the crow is able to correlate the 
three factors, — namely, the man, the gun, and a 
certain definite area of territory; and he knows that 
the elimination of any one of them is fatal to the 
efficiency of the combination. 

This is just as truly a process of induction as was 
that which Newton employed in his search for the 
law of gravitation; and it just as certainly involves 
the collection, classification, and correlation of facts 
for the purpose of arriving at a general conclusion, 
as did the process which Kepler employed in his 
search for his three laws of planetary motion. 

Being a process of induction, it follows that it 
originated in the objective mind, — the mind of 
which the brain is the organ, — the mind of '' in- 
telligence," as distinguished from the mind of ^' in- 
stinct," — the mind whose office it is to educate 
the subjective, or instinctive intelligence, and guide 
it through the intricate mazes of a physical 
environment. 



SUGGESTION IN LOWER ANIMAL LIFE 89 

Is there any doubt as to the scientific accuracy of 
the last proposition? Locke says that ''God does 
not make noble things for ignoble uses/' which is 
true in a limited sense. If he had said that God 
does not make nohle things zvithout any uses, he 
would have propounded a '* universal postulate/' for 
its opposite is inconceivable. And this is precisely 
what God would have done if He had created a 
brain intelligence capable of inductive reasoning, 
when there was already in existence an organized 
intelligence endowed with the same powers and ca- 
pable, actually or potentially, of performing the same 
functions. It is an axiom of evolutionary science 
that no physical organ was ever evolved except in 
response to a necessity growing out of physical en- 
vironmental conditions; and this Is as true of the 
brain, with its distinctive functions and faculties, as 
it is of the antennae of the humblest insect. 

As I have repeatedly had occasion to observe, that 
which is now designated as the subjective mind 
exists in all sentient organisms, from the moneron 
to man ; its salient characteristics are the same now 
as in the primordial epoch, varying only in degree; 
and its one salient limitation of power is due to 
what science, for want of a better name, has desig- 
nated as the law of suggestion. I have also shown 
that comparatively late in the history of organic 
evolution a new mental power was developed, capa- 
ble of supplying the deficiency due to the limiting 
law, and thus imparting a fresh impetus to progres- 
sive development in the organic world. I repeat 
that this new power would not have been evolved 
but for the necessity which existed; and hence the 



90 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

Specific character of the new power is demonstrative 
evidence of the character of the deficiency or limi- 
tation. Not that it imparted any new powers to the 
already existent mental organism, but that it was 
able intelligently to direct and promote the enlarge- 
ment of the scope of the old. I have endeavored to 
point out the process by which this was begun, — 
namely, by the development of new or secondary 
instincts, ■ — and that this was possible only under 
the correlative laws of duality and suggestion. 

I have said that no new powers were imparted to 
the subjective mind; nor were its limitations re- 
moved. Obviously that would be impossible without 
changing or repealing a law of nature. The same 
limitations must always exist so long as it is hedged 
about by a physical environment. 

It will thus be seen, (i) that all progressive 
increase of animal intelligence beyond primordial 
conditions is due to the development of secondary 
instincts, from time to time, in response to the ne- 
cessities growing out of new and constantly chang- 
ing environmental conditions; (2) that the acts of 
secondary instincts are at first '' intelligently " per- 
formed, and are afterward crystallized into inherit- 
able instincts; (3) that the ''intelligence'' which 
thus adapts itself to new environmental conditions 
is primarily that of the objective, or brain, mind; 
(4) that the objective mind was, and is, the in- 
structor of the subjective mind; and (5) that all 
progressive development of animal intelligence is due 
to the suggestions of the objective mind to the sub- 
jective mind. 

It follows that all evohttionary development of 



SUGGESTION IN LOWER ANIMAL LIFE 9 1 

animal intelligence is due to the lazv of suggestion; 
that is to say, all acquisitions of knowledge that 
are inheritable, and therefore permanent and valu- 
able to the species, are due to that one universal 
law. For until animal intelligence is converted into 
an instinct it is not inheritable, and until it is in- 
heritable it is not permanent, and until it is perma- 
nent it is of little value to them in the struggle for 
life. 

What is true of the lower animals is also true of 
the higher animals, including man. The same law 
that prevails in the acquisition of the secondary in- 
stincts which enable the lower animals to cope suc- 
cessfully with new environmental conditions, enables 
man to assert and to maintain his dominion over 
all the animal creation,^ to educate his children, and 
to train them for future usefulness in the moral and 
intellectual realms. 

It follows that the law of suggestion is an essen- 
tial factor in the evolution of civilization as well as 
in the evolution of animal intelligence. As such, it 

1 Were it not for the law of suggestion, it would be impossible for 
man to tame a tiger, subdue an elephant, or break a horse. Thus, every- 
one is aware that in order successfully to reduce a horse to permanent 
subjection to the will of man, he must be made to believe that man is 
stronger than a horse. This is usually done by throwing the animal and 
holding him down until he ceases to struggle. When that has been suc- 
cessfully accomplished, the rest is easy ; for the suggestion has thus been 
imparted to the limited intelligence of the horse that it is useless to 
struggle against superior strength. This principle prevails in all en- 
counters between man and the lower animals ; and just in proportion to 
man's success in imparting that suggestion to the animal he seeks to 
subdue, will he succeed in rendering the animal permanently obedient 
and docile. In a word, man is enabled to assert and maintain his do- 
minion over the animal creation solely by virtue of the law of 
suggestion. -^ 



92 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

IS the antithesis of the law of heredity, which has 
been rightly termed '' the conservative factor in evo- 
lution/' Heredity simply preserves what has been 
gained by evolution. It takes no step in advance ; it 
accomplishes no new result. Indeed, its tendencies, 
under the law of atavism, are retrogressive. Evolu- 
tion, with all its factors and forces, is progressive; 
and as suggestion is its prime factor, especially in 
moral and intellectual advancement, it follows, as 
before remarked, that suggestion is the antithesis of 
heredity. In this sense, therefore, suggestion may be 
defined as ihe one means, available to man, whereby 
he may avoid, overcome, or neutralize the evils due 
to heredity. 

It is, therefore, not only the prime and all-potent 
factor in the evolutionary development of animal life 
and intelligence, but it is the one supreme psycholog- 
ical factor, without which human civilization would 
be impossible. 

Enough has now been said to show that the first 
two terms of our hypothesis are demonstrable propo- 
sitions. It remains to prove that the third term is 
equally veridical, — namely, that ''the subjective mind 
controls the functions, sensations, and conditions of 
the body/' This we may assume, for the present, to 
have been provisionally established by the testimony 
of ''a cloud of witnesses," including that of the ablest 
members of the medical profession, to say nothing 
of the innumerable evidences of it in the records of 
cures of disease under the thousand and one systems 
of mental healing, generically known to science as 
" Suggestive Therapeutics.'' But it will more fully 
appear as we proceed with the discussion hereinafter. 



CHAPTER VII 
SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 

The more Beneficent a Law of Nature, the Heavier the Penalty for its 
Violation. — This Axiom as applicable to Laws of Life, Mind, and 
Health as to any other Law. — Exemption of the Lower Animals 
from Suggestions Adverse to Health. — Man the Prey of such Sug- 
gestions. — The Potency of Adverse Suggestions equal to that of 
Therapeutic Suggestions. — The Newspaper an Agency for the 
Promulgation of Suggestions Adverse to Health. — The Patent- 
Medicine Advertisement. — The Danger of Adverse Suggestions 
to Students of Medicine. — Newspaper Literature relating to Diet. 
— Pernicious Dietetics. — Auto-Suggestion the Safeguard. 

IT is axiomatic that the more beneficent a law is, 
the heavier are the penalties exacted for its vio- 
lation. This is divine justice, and in the realm of 
natural law the rule is inexorable. Hence the high- 
est conception of human justice, in criminal juris- 
prudence, is to ^^ make the punishment fit the crime.'' 
Owing, however, to human imperfections, the highest 
ideal is not often, if ever, reached, although it is 
more and more nearly approximated as humanity 
rises in the scale of civilization; hence the gradual 
restriction of the death penalty to violations of the 
laws for the protection of human life. 

In nature's laws the inexorable rule is as above 
stated; and no amount of culture or experience or 
evolutionary development can enable one of God's 
creatures to evade the full penalty exacted by nature 



94 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

for the violation of one of her laws. Necessarily 
this is as true of the laws of life, mind, and health 
as it is of any other. If it were not, there could be 
no such thing as a science of psychology or of physi- 
ology or of therapeutics; for nothing could be safely 
predicated upon the truth of that most fundamental 
of all the axioms of science, - — '' the constancy of 
nature.'' In fact, one of the surest methods of defi- 
nitely ascertaining and confirming the existence and 
universality of a supposed law of nature is by sys- 
tematic observation of the evils resulting from its 
violation. This is especially true of the laws of 
health, as is shown by the fact that most of the im- 
portant discoveries in therapeutical science were the 
results of observations of pathological conditions of 
the human body or of the mind. If the penalties 
are constant and uniform, coextensive with the real 
or supposed range or scope of the law itself, and 
commensurate in each case with the magnitude and 
character of the infractions, it is presumptive, if not 
conclusive, evidence of the existence of the law. 

To this test we must now submit the law of sug- 
gestion. If the axiom is true that " the more benefi- 
cent a law is, the heavier are the penalties exacted 
for its violation," we shall have a right to expect to 
find that a perversion of the power of suggestion is 
followed by untold evils to body, mind, and soul. 
And this, as I shall attempt to show, is borne out by 
all human experience. For the present, however, I 
shall confine myself to the domain of therapeutics, 
although enough will be said to show that the prin- 
ciple applies with equal force to every field of human 
activity. 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 95 

Two questions have been asked by speculative 
philosophers of all the ages, neither of which could 
ever be satisfactorily answered prior to the discov- 
ery of the law of suggestion. The first is, Why are 
the lower animals so much more healthy than the 
human race? The second is, Why does man grow 
wxaker as he grows wiser? Both these questions 
have been answered more or less satisfactorily from 
various standpoints, but it is now safe to say that 
the law of suggestion reveals the prime factor in the 
solution of both problems. 

In the first place, the lower animals, owing to 
their lack of intelligence, are entirely exempt from 
the influence of suggestions adverse to health. The 
same is true of idiots and of many insane persons, 
and for the same reason. In neither case can ad- 
verse suggestions reach the subjective mind, owing 
to the limited intelligence of the objective. Hence 
*' nature," as the world loosely defines that mysteri- 
ous energy within which keeps us alive, is left free 
and untrammelled to follow its natural trend, which 
is always toward health and the conservation of the 
vital forces. 

On the other hand, man, whose objective mind 
is capable of receiving and assimilating impressions 
from innumerable sources, is the constant prey of 
suggestions adverse to health; and the most signifi- 
cant feature of it is that, the more numerous are the 
sources from which man receives his impressions, 
the greater are the dangers which beset his pathway 
through life. In other words, the history of the 
world shows that as the sources of information mul- 
tiply, the diseases of mankind increase in number 



96 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

and prevalence; and this in spite of man's increased 
knowledge of medicine, sanitation, and hygiene. This 
fact alone points unmistakably to a psychological 
cause; and to those who have followed my remarks 
thus far it will be obvious that popular ignorance 
of the law of suggestion is responsible. For if sug- 
gestion is a therapeutic agency as effective and uni- 
versal as we have found it to be, it follows that 
suggestions adverse to health must be equally potent 
in the other direction. This view of the case will 
be confirmed if we find that suggestions adverse 
to health are as common and as prevalent and as 
virulent, so to speak, as the diseases themselves. 
That is to say, we may expect to find that the in- 
crease of such suggestions, and the facilities for 
imparting them to the public, are proportioned to 
the increase in the number of diseases which afiflict 
mankind; and this, as a matter of fact, is precisely 
what we do find. Beginning with the lower animals 
and idiots, neither of whom are capable of receiving 
either a therapeutic suggestion or one adverse to 
health, and ascending through all the grades of 
human intelligence, we find that this ratio prevails. 
It follows that as in these days books and news- 
papers furnish facilities, greater than ever before 
existed, for imparting suggestions to those who 
read them, we may expect to find that books and 
newspapers are the prime sources of the sugges- 
tions, good or bad, which dominate mankind of the 
present day. Now, it cannot be denied that the 
press, especially the newspaper, leads the van in 
the world's material and intellectual progress; but 
it is equally true that the newspaper, as a means 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 97 

of promoting or promulgating psychological knowl- 
edge, has thus far proved a dismal failure. This is 
not the fault of the newspaper, per se; but it arises 
from the fact that the average newspaper man shows 
the prevailing ignorance of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of psychology, especially of the new psychol- 
ogy. I shall not stop to dwell upon the fact that the 
new psychology, in the hands of ignorance, readily 
lends itself to the uses of newspaper sensationalism, 
for that is not the worst feature of the situation. 
It matters little that the newspaper has succeeded 
in frightening its readers into an insane prejudice 
against hypnotism, for popular prejudice against 
that psychological agency is not without its value 
in guarding the public against the possible evils of 
hypnotism in the hands of ignorance and charlatan- 
ism. But the case assumes a serious aspect when 
we consider the newspaper as an agency for the pro- 
mulgation of suggestions adverse to public health; 
and the fact that it is done unintentionally and in 
ignorance of the law of suggestion serves but to 
enhance the gravity of the situation. 

The first and most obvious agency through which 
the newspaper assists in the promulgation of sug- 
gestions adverse to health is the patent-medicine 
advertisement. Everybody is familiar with the 
patent-medicine m.an's insidious ways, and with 
what preternatural cunning he insinuates ideas of 
ill health into the minds of his readers. If his 
medicine is not a panacea for all the ills that flesh 
is heir to, he usually selects some disease that is 
quite common — say, dyspepsia, or liver complaint, 
or kidney trouble, or impure blood — and then pro- 

7 



98 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDLCLNE 

ceeds to tell us that all other diseases arise from the 
particular disease which he has selected for a base 
of operations. He then proceeds to dilate upon the 
fatal character of his selection, and usually appends 
a long list of " symptoms '' by which any one can 
know that he is a victim. The list is always exten- 
sive enough to include every conceivable sensation 
that is at all uncomfortable, so that few healthy per- 
sons escape, and none who are watchful for patho- 
logical ^'symptoms'' in themselves can possibly count 
their cases outside of the fatal category. Fortunately 
for the patent-medicine business, the latter class is 
very numerous. In fact, there are few persons who 
cannot, by persistent '' introspection," evoke any par- 
ticular '' symptom '' that has been suggested. The 
tendency to do so is one of the serious difficulties 
encountered by the students of pathology in our 
medical colleges; and before the law of suggestion 
was understood by the faculties, many students were 
compelled to abandon their studies because of their 
irresistible tendency to '^ imagine,'' and eventually 
to experience, every symptom of the diseases they 
were called upon to study. Some, indeed, of the 
more persistent paid the penalty of death by diseases 
brought on by the suggestions borne in upon them 
by their studies. I personally know one physician, a 
graduate of a regular medical college, whose useful- 
ness has often been seriously impaired in critical 
cases by the fact that he almost invariably '^ took on 
the conditions " of the patient while at the bedside, 
especially if the patient experienced any great amount 
of pain, — cases of parturition forming no exception 
to the rule. Husbands have been known to suffer 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 99 

equally with their wives in such cases, and instances 
are not uncommon where the husband suffers all the 
pangs of ^' morning sickness '' during the pregnancy 
of the wife. In one case the husband was personally 
known to the author. His first experience occurred 
while he was temporarily absent from home, and it 
continued for two weeks before he returned. In the 
meantime he consulted an eminent physician who 
happened to be familiar with the phenomenon, hav- 
ing met with several such cases in the course of his 
practice. He recognized the symptoms at once; but 
the fact of the absence of the husband from home 
when he was first attacked puzzled him, for telepa- 
thy was not then recognized as a possible factor in 
such cases by physicians of the old school. Never- 
theless, the doctor was so sure of the significance of 
the symptoms that he urged a comparison of notes 
when the husband returned home; ''for," said he, 
'' what mysterious bond of psychological sympathy 
may exist between husband and wife, no one can 
tell." A comparison of experiences proved the cor- 
rectness of the doctor's diagnosis; for the husband's 
and wife's sufferings were found to have been coin- 
cident as to time and character, day by day, from 
the beginning. 

This, however, is a sHght digression. My object 
is to show how easily and powerfully suggestions 
may operate to bring about pathological conditions 
in people of far more than average intelligence. If 
medical students can be so wrought upon by the sug- 
gestions embraced in their general studies of pathol- 
ogy and their subsequent experiences at the bedside, 
what may we not expect of that large and constantly 



100 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

augmenting class whose knowledge of pathology is 
derived solely from the patent-medicine advertise- 
ments in the daily papers? This question is espe- 
cially pertinent in view of the fact that a very large 
proportion of that class are never so happy as when 
they can find in themselves an illustrative example 
of the pathological science to be found in the patent- 
medicine advertisement. 

Suggestions arising from this source are, however, 
among the very least of the evils resulting from 
newspaper science of medicine; for, bad as are the 
influences of the patent-medicine advertisement, it 
is not without its mitigating factors. In the first 
place, the medicines themselves are generally harm- 
less; and in the second place they carry with them 
very potent suggestions as to their therapeutic effi- 
cacy. These are in the form of ''testimonials'' from 
those who have been '' raised from the dead '' by 
means of the nostrums advertised; and as such tes- 
timonials are usually very cheap and easy to pro- 
cure, especially from those who are fired with an 
ambition to see their names and pictures in print, 
or from decayed statesmen, they are generally abun- 
dant in quantity and of a quality exactly suited to 
the demands of trade. Many such testimonials are, 
no doubt, genuine; but be that as it may, they per- 
form the functions of a therapeutic suggestion in 
reference to the remedy advertised, and thus elevate 
the patent medicine to the standard therapeutic value 
of the placebo of the regular practitioner. And this 
is saying a great deal for the patent medicine; for 
the average physician is never entitled to so much 
confidence as when he administers a placebo accom- 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 1 01 

panied by a vigorous therapeutic suggestion. In the 
hands of the prudent physician, who is distrustful of 
his own diagnosis, the placebo is of the very essence 
of conservatism. It conceals the ignorance of the 
doctor, — which is in itself a measure of great thera- 
peutic value, — and it supplies the patient's strenu- 
ous demand for medicine. It gives the physician 
time to study the case, and '' nature '' an opportunity 
to do his work for him. Best of all, it does no harm ; 
and when accompanied by an intelligent therapeutic 
suggestion, it often does much good. To a limited 
extent the harmless patent medicine, when accom- 
panied by the '' testimonial," does the same thing 
in the same way; and hence the remark that the 
patent-medicine advertisement is one of the least of 
the evils resulting from the medical literature of the 
newspaper. 

If I were called upon to name the most prolific 
source of suggestions adverse to health, I should 
unhesitatingly say that it is the newspaper literature 
relating to diet. It is safe to say that nine-tenths of 
all diseases of the digestive organs, especially dys- 
pepsia, are due primarily to the suggestions embraced 
in that kind of literature. The exasperating feature 
of it is that not one newspaper article in a hundred 
on that topic is written by any one who knows any- 
thing about the subject. They are generally written 
by boys or young ladies who are learning the trade 
of newspaper writers. Everybody familiar with that 
class of people is av\^are that the highest ambition of 
the newspaper cub is to write something that will 
be extensively copied by other papers; and he soon 
learns that anything pertaining to health in general. 



102 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

or diet in particular, is sure of an extensive and 
eager hearing. Whereupon he proceeds to guess 
out a long list of articles of diet that are '' un- 
healthy/' because indigestible, or innutritions, or 
poisonous. In order to be entirely original and 
startling, he generally selects one or more of the 
most popular articles of diet in his community, and 
tells his readers that they are — perhaps slowly, but 
'^ certainly surely " — sapping the foundations of 
their respective constitutions by indulgence in this 
or that particular article of diet. 

One of the wise sayings of the celebrated Dr. 
Abernethy was that '' when a man begins seriously 
to dissect himself, he will soon be a fit subject for 
the undertaker.'' And this is precisely what the 
average reader of such articles generally proceeds 
to do. That is to say, the next time he indulges in 
the article of diet inveighed against, he proceeds to 
institute a series of introspective observations hav- 
ing special reference to the behavior of his stomach 
in presence of that particular article of nutriment, 
and he is generally rewarded by finding just what 
he is looking for, namely, some decidedly uneasy 
symptoms indicative of indigestion. The next time 
he tries it the symptoms are more pronounced; and 
the third or fourth trial is generally sufficient to 
cause that particular dish, e. g. bread and butter, to 
be tabooed as utterly indigestible. Then he proceeds 
to lecture his family and friends on the subject of 
the insidious but deadly character of bread and but- 
ter ; and in due time that article of food is banished 
from the household bill of fare. 

The next newspaper article attacks some other 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 103 

article of diet, and with the same result, and so 
on through the whole bill of fare of the ordinary 
household; the result being one or more confirmed 
dyspeptics in every family. It may be thought that 
I am stating an extreme case. It is extreme, but 
very common; for this is the way dyspeptics are 
created in nine cases out of ten. The weakness of 
the stomach is often due solely to atrophy of that 
organ; and the atrophy is due, not to eating indi- 
gestible food, nor to habitual overtaxation of the 
digestive powers, but to the fact that it was not 
given enough to do to keep its powers at their maxi- 
mum. It atrophies, precisely as any other organ of 
the body will atrophy, for the lack of a normal amount 
of exercise; and the only way to give it healthy 
exercise is to give it a normal amount of nutritious 
food to digest, always taking care to avoid those 
mental conditions which interfere with the normal 
action of the digestive organs. Strange as it may 
appear at first glance, the latter consideration is of 
the first importance; for there is no such thing in 
civilized countries as an indigestible article of hu- 
man diet, provided the proper mental conditions 
are maintained. Conversely, there is no article of 
food that cannot be rendered indigestible by the 
induction of adverse mental conditions. The lesson 
is obvious and the remedy easy, but the discussion 
of it must be deferred for the moment. 

Another newspaper source of suggestions adverse 
to health is to be found in the tendency of the jour- 
nalistic humorist to fadism in the construction of 
the so-called newspaper joke or humorous para- 
graph. A single illustration of my meaning will 



I04 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

suffice. Many years ago some preternaturally smart 
newspaper cub (an Englishman, I believe) con- 
ceived the idea of conquering fame by ridiculing the 
New England custom — then almost universal — 
of eating pie (pronounced '' paie/' in the vernacu- 
lar) for dessert. The only thing connected with the 
custom — or the pie — that was a legitimate sub- 
ject of raillery, even from an Englishman's dietetic 
standpoint, was the fact that the more luxurious of 
the New England pie-eaters indulged in that luxury 
three times a day. But the pie joke, feeble and 
harmless as it was in its infancy, survived and was 
passed around in its myriad forms, and so was the 
pie, until some more than ordinarily feeble-minded 
newspaper pathologist lifted up his voice and pro- 
claimed the New England pie to be the real and 
only source of all the ills that American flesh was 
heir to. This, of course, was heralded far and wide 
as a great and an important scientific discovery in 
dietetics, and the usual process of '' introspection " 
began in thousands of New England homes where 
pie had before been a benediction and a joy unspeak- 
able three times a day, to say nothing of surrepti- 
tious " pieces " between meals. The usual results 
followed, and in an incredibly short space of time a 
'^ cloud of witnesses " arose to testify against pie. 
A careful watching of the " symptoms " revealed 
the fact that pie was " utterly indigestible." In 
vain it was pointed out that for hundreds of years 
it had been eaten by all classes and under all condi- 
tions by New England people, and that no one had 
discovered that pie was other than wholesome as 
well as palatable and easily digested, until the news- 



SUGGESTIOiYS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 1 05 

paper fakir happened to think about it. Once started, 
the hue and cry went the rounds of the '' family " 
journals, each one seeking to outdo all the others, 
until pie became such an abomination in the public 
mind that it required an abnormal development of 
" nerve " to defy popular opinion so far as to order 
a piece of pie at a public restaurant, and if any one 
had the hardihood to do so he was fortunate if he 
escaped a serious lecture by some neighboring " re- 
former '' on the subject of the diabolical nature of 
pie. Even doctors were dragged into the crusade 
and compelled by force of public opinion to look 
wise and shake their heads when a convalescing 
patient craved a piece of pie; and Emerson was 
credited by a newspaper reporter with denouncing 
pie as the greatest evil with which the American 
nation had to contend. Some doctors even went so 
far as to claim the credit of the discovery that pie 
was indigestible, and others claimed to have always 
known that pie was the root of all evils in the Ameri- 
can commonwealth. 

To any one familiar with the potency of sugges- 
tion, it will not seem strange that in the midst of 
such a crusade against a particular article of diet 
there should be found many whose experience amply 
justified the crusade; and when we reflect that in 
every newspaper-reading family in the United States 
the subject of the indigestibility of pie was a com- 
mon topic of conversation at the table, it is not at 
all wonderful that in almost every family one or 
more should experience a fit of indigestion after an 
indulgence followed by the inevitable '^ introspec- 
tion,'' or watching for the anticipated symptoms. It 



I06 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

would^ indeed, have been a miracle on a national 
scale if these results had not followed, and pie had 
not been tabooed, as a consequence, in many an other- 
wise well-regulated household. 

In point of fact, if the crusade had been started 
as an experiment, pure and simple, to test the effi- 
cacy of suggestion on a large scale, no better test 
could have been devised. For such an experiment 
an absolutely wholesome, harmless, and easily di- 
gested article of diet would, for obvious reasons, 
furnish the crucial test of popular suggestibility; 
and I undertake to say that the American pie is as 
well adapted to the purpose as any food known to 
civilized mankind. In saying this, I do not include 
the article known as '' railroad pie," which is pop- 
ularly believed, not without reason, to be so con- 
structed as to render what is not sold to the 
famished traveller available as ballast in railroad 
construction. I refer to the American pie as it was 
made by our New England grandmothers in ante- 
beUuiii days, — that is, before the crusade was in- 
stituted against it as an institution. Did any of the 
crusaders stop to analyze its contents with the view 
of ascertaining what it is that renders pie so very 
unwholesome? If so, the result has never been 
published. Let us, then, examine it dispassionately, 
with the view of determining, approximately, what 
proportion of suggestion has been mixed in with its 
other ingredients in order to render it indigestible. 

The American pie, per se, is built up of the fol- 
lowing materials, to wit : flour, water, lard or butter, 
or both, sugar, and fruit, the latter normally pre- 
dominating largely as to bulk. The more epicurean 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 10/ 

tastes prevailing among the aristocratic portion of 
New England farmers demanded a little flavoring 
of nutmeg, — real nutmeg, not the nutmeg of Con- 
necticut commerce (that being manufactured solely 
for the export trade, as tradition informs us). 

Will some dietetic crank rise to inform us what 
there is among the materials themselves, or in the 
combination, that is unwholesome, or indigestible, 
or even hard to digest? Is it not, indeed, a com- 
bination devoutly to be wished for by any one of 
simple tastes and normal appetite? Is there any- 
thing connected with it, suggestion excepted, that 
could have the remotest tendency to cause it to ''dis- 
agree'' with the most delicate digestive apparatus? 
Clearly not. 

It is for this reason that I have employed the 
crusade against pie as an illustration of the fact that 
when once a suggestion adverse to any wholesome 
article of diet or drink is turned loose upon a com- 
munity, it carries with it an incalculable amount of 
suffering among those who are ignorant of the subtle 
powers of' suggestion. And I have spoken of the 
newspaper as the means by which such suggestions 
are most extensively promulgated, merely as an illus- 
tration of the remark made in a former chapter, that 
suggestions adverse to health are numerous in a com- 
munity in proportion to its facilities for the promul- 
gation and dissemination of intelligence. It follows 
that so long as man rests in ignorance of the law of 
suggestion, the higher the grade of his civilization, 
the more will he suffer from suggestions adverse to 
his health. 

If the New England pie was the only wholesome 



I08 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

article of diet against which a crusade has been made, 
these words would not have been written. But the 
fact is, there is scarcely anything left for one to sub- 
sist upon if he pays attention to all the current '' re- 
form " literature relating to diet. One by one the 
most healthful and nutritious articles of food and 
drink have been laid under the ban, until now it 
would be impossible for a hungry man to indulge 
in a '^ square meal " without violating half-a-dozen 
or more of some one's dietetic rules and *' princi- 
ples ; '' and could such a man, after indulgence, be 
induced to peruse and assimilate the current litera- 
ture on the subject of what he had been eating, he 
would be in imminent danger of a fit of indigestion 
that would last him a week, perhaps a lifetime. One 
book would tell him that the coffee with which he 
had prepared his stomach for the more solid foods 
was a deadly poison. Another would inform him 
that the beefsteak, or other meats, which consti- 
tuted the piece de resistance of his meal, was the 
prime source of all the ills of the human stomachy 
to say nothing of its irresistible tendency to brutalize 
humanity and incite nations to war. The next au- 
thority w^ould inhibit potatoes because they contain 
too much starch, and another would inhibit the other 
vegetables because they do not contain enough. One 
authority would tell him that he did n't eat enough 
salt with his' food ; and the next would be equally 
positive that salt in appreciable quantities is demor- 
alizing to the human organism. One authority tells 
him that it is disastrous to drink anything during a 
meal, and the next dietetic savant tells him that he 
should deluge his stomach with hot water if he ex- 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH 109 

pects to eat anything with impunity. And so on 
through the whole bill of fare, be it great or small. 
I undertake to say that nothing that enters into the 
composition of the diet of civilized humanity has 
escaped denunciation by somebody, at some time, 
as being unfit for human food. Moreover, no such 
denunciation of any article of food has ever been 
unproductive of its legitimate results, namely, a 
cloud of witnesses in confirmation of the assertion. 
Do I hear some one say that bread, " the staff of 
life/' must be excepted from this wholesale state- 
ment? If any one supposes th'at bread has escaped, 
he ^* imagines a vain thing.^' A few years ago an 
American lady — a brand '' new woman '' — was 
casting about for a '^mission" in life; that is to 
say, she longed to '' reform '' somebody or some- 
thitig, it mattered not what, so long as it held out 
to her a prospect of standing at the head of a great 
" movement." To that end it must be something 
new, startling, original. She inclined to dietetics, 
not because she knew anything of the subject, but 
because she was not thus encumbered. In looking 
over the list of foods already under the ban of the 
" reformer," she found nothing left but bread. It 
is true that bread had been foully dealt with by 
other iconoclasts, largely in the way of rendering 
it unpalatable and innutritions by making it princi- 
pally of bran and other refuse material; but it was 
decidedly a new departure to denounce bread as the 
" staff of death," and so she adopted that shibboleth 
as the key-note of her system of dietetic reform, 
and, for the want of anything else to live on which 
had not already been proven by her predecessors to 



I lO THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

be unwholesome, she advised mankind to live on 
nuts. 

Fortunately for the American people, they are 
endowed with a keen sense of the ridiculous, which 
decidedly limits the range of their suggestibility; 
and, consequently, the idea did not " take " in this 
country to a commercial extent. But the lady flew 
to England, organized a Society of Bread-Haters 
and Nut-Eaters, started a magazine, and wrote a 
book, before John Bull began to laugh. 

It must not be supposed that the lady was entirely 
destitute of followers even in this country. On the 
contrary, many rose up to testify to the life-destroy- 
ing potency of bread and the bland beneficence of 
nuts as an article of daily consumption at the family 
table. 

It will now be seen what a vast congeries of sug- 
gestions adverse to health the American stomach is 
beset withal. I have spoken of the public press as 
being largely responsible primarily for this state of 
affairs. But when we reflect that w^hat is said in 
books and newspapers is repeated over and over at 
every table at which a dietetic crank is allowed to 
feed, it will be seen that almost every family is more 
or less subjected to the infliction of such suggestions 
three times a day. Is it any wonder that we are 
known as a '^ nation of dyspeptics '' ? And is it not 
self-evident that heretofore cause and effect have 
been misplaced and misunderstood? Europeans tell 
us that our diet is unwholesome, and hence respon- 
sible for those ills which have come to be regarded 
as peculiarly American, and we are only too ready 
to echo the refrain; whereas the fact is that in no 



SirGGESTIO? ■ VERSE TO HEALTH III 

na^.;.^i jn cartli v^erage table so bountifully 

suoplied with gouu, piaiii, wholesome, and nutritious 
food as it is in the United States. It is a common 
saying that the average European cook could feed 
a family on Avhat is wasted in an American family 
of the same size. Doubtless this is true ; but it must 
not be forgotten that it must be a European family 
that could thus subsist. A normal American would 
starve to death on the same concoction of waste 
materials. 

No; the average American need not be ashamed 
or afraid of either his diet or his cuisine, — for 
there is absolutely nothing unwholesome in the one, 
nor unscientific in the other. But he should avoid 
the current suggestions relating to both, as he 
would avoid famine or a pestilence; for such sug- 
gestions as we have been considering will create a 
famine in the midst of abundance, and a pestilence 
amidst the most perfect physical environment. It is 
a literal fact that thousands of people in this coun- 
try are perishing for the lack of proper nutriment, 
simply because they have allowed themselves to dwell 
upon the suggestions contained in current literature. 

Does any one doubt the control of the mind over 
the vital processes ? Who has not experienced a total 
suspension of the digestive functions upon the recep- 
tion of bad news? Who has not experienced a sud- 
den and total loss of appetite upon hearing certain 
disagreeable subjects discussed at the table? Who 
has not seen half the guests at a boarding-house table 
suddenly disappear when the perennial idiot known 
as the boarding-house wag provides himself before- 
hand with a long hair and pretends to pull it out of 



112 THE LAW OF ME MEDfCfNE 

the hash ? There are a few who can retain sausages 
on their stomachs, even the bologna, in the presence 
of the '' humorist '' who fancies that he has created 
an original joke by alluding to the possible constit- 
uent elements of the sausage of commerce. For- 
tunate indeed is the man who can hurl defiance at 
the joker by saying, '' You can't turn my stomach/' 
It not only indicates a healthy stomach, but the as- 
sertion itself constitutes an effective auto-suggestion 
which fortifies the stomach against the adverse in- 
fluence of the original suggestion of " dog " in the 
sausage. 

This leads us to the consideration of the sovereign 
remedy for all the manifold evils arising from the 
congeries of suggestions which we have been con- 
sidering. Obviously the remedy is auto-suggestion; 
for if disease can be created by one suggestion, it 
follows that it can be cured by a counter suggestion. 
The latter may be made by one person to another^ 
as by a mental healer to his patient; or it may be 
made by the patient himself, — which is known as 
" auto-suggestion.'' Other things being equal, an 
auto-suggestion is more potent than a suggestion 
from any extraneous source, for the simple reason 
that an auto-suggestion is generally backed by the 
objective convictions of the patient, whereas sug- 
gestions by another may directly contravene the pa- 
tient's objective reason and experience, — not that 
the latter may not be effective when it is made with 
force and persistence, but that the former are more 
easily and naturally effective, either as a moral or a 
therapeutic agency. 

One may, therefore, counteract the great bulk of 



SUGGESTIONS ADVERSE TO HEALTH II3 

the current dietetic suggestions by the employment 
of just a littlf reason and common sense. If he 
feels that he must read what every crank has to say 
about diet and health, let him ask himself if there is 
any reasonable foundation for the diatribe against 
the particular article under treatment, and in nine 
cases out of ten he will find that it contravenes all 
reason and human experience. But the safest plan 
is to refrain from reading such stuff; for the ten- 
dency always is to try to verify what one reads on 
such subjects, especially if one is ignorant of the 
potency of suggestion and its tendency to create ex- 
pected conditions. This is on the principle that '' an 
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.'' It 
is always easy to prevent an adverse suggestion from 
taking effect in the mind; and that is by not allow- 
ing it to find an entrance. To that end one should 
never allow himself to think, much less talk, on the 
subject of the wholesomeness or digestibility of the 
food that is set before him. The good old biblical 
rule is the best : '' Eat what is set before you, asking 
no questions for conscience' sake." 

Above all, having partaken of a dish, do not go 
away and sit down to watch for symptoms of in- 
digestion. If one does that, he will be sure to find 
what he is seeking. The best rule of diet is to eat 
what you like to eat, in due moderation of course, 
and never allow the question of its digestibility to 
intrude itself, even in an adverse thought. Indul- 
gence in cheerful conversation during and immedi- 
ately after meals is the best conceivable '' dieteticall 
and prophylaticall receipt of wholesome caution " 
against acute indigestion or chronic dyspepsia. In 



114 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDLCINE 

Other words, keep your mind off your stomach dur- 
ing the process of digestion, and you will soon forget 
that you have a stomach. The immunity of animals 
and idiots from diseases of the digestive organs, 
many of whom eat enormously of whatever they can 
get, is due to the fact that they are beyond the reach 
of suggestions adverse to health. Some one has well 
said that if the current dietetic suggestions could 
reach the mind of an ostrich, he would soon be un- 
able to digest a boiled potato. 



CHAPTER VIII 
^'PURITANICAL^' DIET AND MEDICINE 

Asceticism of our Puritan Ancestors. — Tendency of Primitive Minds 
to reason by Analogy. — Influence of Asceticism on Dietetics. — 
The Appetite usually a Safe Guide. — Dyspepsia often caused by 
Suggestion. — The Principle of Asceticism in the Old Medical 
Practice. — Importance of the Law of suggestion in Connection 
with Diet and Medicine. 

IN saying what I shall have to say under the above 
heading, it is far from my intention to cast any 
reflections upon the character or the religion of our 
Puritan ancestors. It is only in reference to some 
salient peculiarities that a parallel can be drawn 
which justifies the title to this chapter. 

It was these peculiarities, growing insensibly out 
of an ascetic religion, that drew from Lord Macaulay 
the remark that the Puritans of the epoch of which 
he was writing *' hated bear-baiting, not because it 
gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure 
to the spectators." ^ That this was literally true, 
Macaulay then proceeds to demonstrate by docu- 
mentary evidence. 

Of course, this trait of character constituted no 
part of the religion of Puritanism, per se; but it is 
undeniable that the characteristic has been inherited 
by later generations to such an extent that in this 
country, at least, Puritanism at one time came to be 

1 History of England, vol. i. p. 154. 



Il6 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

popularly regarded as a religion the fundamental 
tenet of which was that whatever is pleasurable is 
necessarily sinful. Whether this was literally true 
it is aside from our purpose to inquire. But that 
the acts of our Puritan ancestors often justified the 
conclusion is a matter of history. It is sufficient for 
our present purpose to know that the rank and file 
so believed, and that their belief was justified by the 
pulpit utterances of such leaders as the Mathers, the 
Baxters, and their more feeble imitators. Judging 
from Baxter's utterances, for instance, it would seem 
that the only pleasurable emotion which he consid- 
ered at all legitimate was the holy joy naturally 
arising from the assurance that all other sects were 
destined to suffer eternal torment in the next world. 
This pleasure could not reasonably be denied the 
"saints;'' for, as Baxter informs us, God himself 
will take infinite pleasure in the eternal torments of 
the damned.^ But all other pleasures were inhibited 
as being sinful. Music, dancing, laughter, feasting, 
public amusements, and all kinds of games came 
under the ban; and they even sought to place limi- 
tations upon the enjoyment of parental love, as being 
displeasing in the sight of a jealous God, who was 
apt to kill the child whose mother's affection for her 
offspring was just a little too pronounced. In short, 
any pleasurable indulgence that would afford a mo- 
mentary relief from the contemplation of the certainty 
and imminence of death, and the gloom and dampness 
of the grave, was held to be essentially wicked and 
deserving of punishment by means of eternal fire. 
Now, it is a singular psychological fact that when 

1 Saint's Rest, chap. vi. 



''PURITANICAL'' DIET AND MEDICINE II7 

a popular idea takes possession of a community in 
relation to one subject, it is sure to be carried over 
to other subjects where an analogy is supposed to 
exist. The human mind at a certain stage of evolu- 
tionary development is prone to seek for analogies, 
and on the slightest provocation the most momen- 
tous ^' scientific " conclusions will be drawn from 
supposed analogies, when in point of fact the two 
subjects have absolutely nothing in common. Thus, 
the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butter- 
fly has, time out of mind, been supposed to afford a 
valid scientific argument in proof of the immortality 
of the human soul, and learned logicians have sol- 
emnly set it forth as such in text-books for the use 
of schools and colleges. The butterfly as a symbol 
of immortality is beautiful and poetical, but con- 
sidered as inductive proof of the survival of the 
human soul after death, it is grossly illogical and 
unscientific. The reason is obvious : the laws gov- 
erning the physical structure and metamorphosis of 
the butterfly are laws of the organic world, whereas 
the laws of the human soul are spiritual laws; and 
it is axiom.atic that no legitimate scientific analogy 
exists between subjects governed by different laws. 
As well might one hope to solve a mathematical 
problem by the rules of grammar. 

On the other hand, the old pagan argument against 
immortality is invalid for the same reason. I allude 
to " Averroeism,'' or the doctrine of ^' emanation and 
absorption,'' which at one time threatened to con- 
vert all Europe to paganism.^ It was an analogical 

1 See "A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life;" also 
Draper's " Conflict between Religion and Science." 



Il8 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

argument of the same specious character as the one 
alluded to in favor of immortality, for that it sought 
to justify conclusions relating to a purely spiritual 
question by reference alone to phenomena of the 
material universe. 

In view of this tendency of primitive minds to find 
analogies where none exist, it is not at all strange 
that in a community holding fast to the idea that in 
the moral and social realms whatever is pleasurable 
is sinful, they should also believe that in the gastro- 
nomic world whatever tastes particularly good is 
necessarily unwholesome, and that the efficacy of 
medicines is proportioned to their nastiness and the 
consequent amount of discomfort that can be in- 
flicted on the patient by their administration. I do 
not undertake to say that this doctrine has been 
authoritatively formulated; but it was well stated, 
according to a newspaper anecdote, by a little girl 
whose Puritan mother had refused her a second piece 
of pie on the ground that it would make her sick. 
"Oh, mamma!'' exclaimed the afflicted little maiden, 
** it seems as though everything in this world that 
is real nice is either wicked or indigestible." 

This expresses the true situation in a nutshell. It 
is probable that no one has ever formulated the idea 
that food is unwholesome in proportion to its pala- 
tability, but certain it is that an incalculable number 
of people habitually act upon that " principle." It 
is equally certain that it is the outgrowth — uncon- 
scious, perhaps — of the popular puritanical idea, as 
before stated. 

Be that as it may, the fact remains, and it must 
be dealt with in this connection ; for it is one of the 



''PURITANICAL'' DIET AND MEDICINE II9 

most prolific sources of suggestions adverse to health 
that the American people have to encounter. It is 
obvious that if such a rule of diet is adhered to, 
there must be a vast number of perfectly whole- 
some articles of food brought under the ban at 
every table where the rule prevails. Children espe- 
cially are made to suffer by being deprived, wholly 
or in part, of those things which every healthy 
normal stomach craves. Besides, the constant sug- 
gestions imparted to children in regard to the in- 
digestibility of everything that they are fond of 
inevitably weakens their digestive powers, and many 
are thus converted into chronic dyspeptics before 
their milk teeth are shed. 

Now, there are certain things that may be more 
effectively used as illustrations of what is meant, 
because of a radical change in popular opinion in 
relation to them within a few years. For instance, 
half a century ago watermelons were under the ban, 
and were consequently partaken of with great cau- 
tion and many misgivings as to their digestibility. 
Nobody could offer a plausible explanation why a 
watermelon contained the seeds of disease, and yet 
the fact remained that numerous cases of cholera 
morbus were traced to indulgence in that luxury. 
Children were especially cautioned against eating all 
they wanted of it, and solemn warnings of the 
wrath to come accompanied every little piece that 
was doled out. Of course, vigorous introspection 
followed every indulgence, and everybody who ate 
watermelon in the evening went to bed with his 
mind prepared for a wrestle with cholera morbus 
before morning. That the legitimate result of the 



120 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

suggestion frequently followed, goes without saying. 
A notable exception must be made in favor of the 
nocturnal small-boy who gorged himself to reple- 
tion upon stolen watermelons. He was immune, for 
nobody was present to suggest the deadly character 
of the fruit, and he had something to think about 
besides watching for symptoms of approaching dis- 
solution. He only knew that watermelon tasted 
good, and he was not up in the then current dietetic 
science which proscribed watermelon for that very 
reason. 

Fortunately for the watermelon trade, as well as 
for the health of the community, it was discovered 
some years ago that there is absolutely nothing in 
the constituent elements of watermelon to justify its 
bad reputation. The celebrated Dr. Tanner was the 
first to call public attention to the fact. He had 
analyzed it and found nothing in it more deadly 
than a little sugar mixed with a large proportion 
of water. He experimented with it, and found that 
it was more easily digested than any other knov/n 
product of the soil, and hence he chose it as the very 
best and safest means of breaking his celebrated forty 
days' fast. On that occasion he simply gorged him- 
self with watermelon, pure and simple, to the con- 
sternation of the attending physicians and the horror 
of the general public. But as the result justified the 
doctor's prognosis, the watermelon scored a signal 
triumph, and in due course of time it ceased its dia- 
bolical work, and now everybody eats it with im- 
punity. The suggestion has been removed. 

Hard-boiled eggs is another very popular article 
of diet that was for many years under the ban, evi- 



"•PURITANICAL'' DIET AND MEDICINE 121 

dently for no other reason than because every child 
likes hard-boiled eggs better than he does the half- 
cooked, mussy, soft-boiled tgg. That being the 
case, of course he must be deprived of it, on the 
usual ground; or if one is reluctantly given to him, 
he is duly and solemnly informed that it will make 
him sick. This state of ajffairs continued for cen- 
turies, and it is even now in evidence among the 
more ignorant families. But the prejudice has been 
gradually dying out since doctors began to prescribe 
hard-boiled eggs as a highly nutritious and easily 
digested article of diet for dyspeptics. They argue 
that cooking food until it is palatable does not render 
it indigestible. On the contrary, the palatability of 
food is one of the first essentials to its digestibility, 
for the reason that it increases the secretion of saliva 
and the gastric juices. In fact, it may be set down 
as a general rule, that, other things being equal, and 
the element of suggestion eliminated, the more pala- 
table a food is, the easier it is digested and assimi- 
lated. Hence it is» that '' what is one man's meat is 
another man's poison," — which is but another way 
of saying that not all digestive organs are alike. 
That which is easy for one person to digest is diffi- 
cult for another; but as a rule the one who likes a 
particular article is the one who can digest it, and 
vice versa. In fact, it may be set down as a dietetic 
axiom that zvhat the tmperverfed stomach craves it 
can digest. By ^' unperverted stomach " I mean one 
whose powers have not been destroyed by suggestion 
or^ot her ab uses. 

Of course, this is the exact opposite to the " puri- 
tanical " rule of which we have been speaking. But 



122 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

physicians are rapidly coming to the conclusion that 
the human stomach craves most that which it most 
needs, and that one's appetite is a pretty safe guide 
to a healthful diet. That is to say, the subjective 
mind instinctively knows the needs of the physical 
organism, and it makes its wants known to the ob- 
jective consciousness by appropriate stimuli. Thus, 
in the presence of the needed food, and often by 
thinking of it, the salivary glands are stimulated to 
action, and thus the first prerequisite to good diges- 
tion is provided in an increased flow of saliva. The 
stomach itself is stimulated to action by the same 
means, and a consequent secretion of the gastric 
juices is induced, thus rendering the process of di- 
gestion easy and pleasurable. It follows that the 
opposite course will produce opposite results, and 
digestion of food that the stomach rejects, or does 
not crave, is correspondingly slow and difficult. 

Hence it is that the intelligent physician of the 
present time is seemingly careless of his patient's 
diet, and generally tells him to eat what he likes. 
If he restricts the diet at all, it is generally because 
the patient seems to expect it, and perhaps would 
be unfavorably impressed if the doctor failed to 
make a showing of wisdom in that way. In such 
cases the average doctor will inhibit something that 
he does not happen to like himself; and each one 
seems to have his pet aversion. I knew a doctor in 
/y\/9i^ Washington whose bete now was boiled cabbage, and 
he invariably told his patients that they could eat 
anything they liked except boiled cabbage. *' Boiled 
cabbage,'' he would oracularly set forth, ^' is abso- 
lutely indigestible, even by a well man, to say.noth- 



"•PURITANICAL"' DIET AND MEDICINE 1 23 

ing of one whose stomach is weakened by disease/' 
Of course the majority of his patients knew by ex- 
perience that for any one who Hkes it boiled cab- 
bage is perfectly easy to digest, and that it is a 
staple article of diet for thousands whose stomachs 
have never revealed their existence by any sensation 
except that of hunger; but they soon learned that 
the doctor would wax hysterical if they ventured to 
defend boiled cabbage against his indictment. Other 
doctors have their pet aversions which they exploit 
in a similar way, but there are few left who venture 
to adhere to the old rule that whatever a patient 
likes must, for that reason alone, be inhibited. 

Half a century ago the latter rule prevailed largely 
among the medical profession in this country. Of 
those who can remember so far back, few can forget 
the affectionate, insinuating solicitude with which the 
average doctor and the nurse would urge a conva- 
lescing patient to try \.o think of something that he 
would like to eat. And no one will forget the fact 
that when some article was named, the doctor would 
invariably shake his head, look preternaturally wise, 
and totally and inexorably inhibit that particular 
article as being hurtful, indigestible, and otherwise 
altogether unsuited to the patient's condition at that 
particular stage of his disease or of his convales- 
cence. After securing a full list of articles that the 
patient thought he could relish, he would be informed 
that disease had so vitiated his appetite that he neces- 
sarily craved only those articles of diet that were in- 
jurious to him in his then condition ; and the homily 
would end by the prescription of some '' sick dish " 
that the patient had already been fed on ad nauseam, 



124 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

— and it was generally some tasteless, innutritions 
mess that would turn the stomach of a hungry dog. 
Many cases of chronic dyspepsia were traceable 
to this practice; and the worst of it was that the 
results often seemed to justify the practice. Thus, 
a physician would strenuously inhibit a favorite dish 
merely because the patient liked it and wanted it. 
The inhibition would be accompanied by the usual 
homily on the indigestibility of that particular article, 
and the patient would often be warned to be very 
careful about indulging too freely in it even after 
his health was restored. The suggestion would nat- 
urally take effect; and it frequently happened that 
the patient could never afterward indulge with im- 
punity in his favorite dish. Nor did it matter how 
harmless the article might be. I knew a boy once 
who during convalescence was urged to tell what 
he would relish most in the way of food, and in 
reply named a certain variety of apples of which 
he was particularly fond. Of course he could not 
have that particular variety, and he was asked to 
name another. But he would have his favorite or 
none; whereupon he was told that he could have 
any other variety in the orchard, but that that par- 
ticular apple was extremely hard to digest, and that 
indulgence in it would ^ most likely cause a relapse. 
He was, of course, forced to forego his desires, and 
was in the end fed on that which he most abomi- 
nated. He managed to survive and fully regained 
his health; but when he came to indulge in his 
favorite variety of apples he found that they invari- 
ably gave him a fit of indigestion. The suggestion 
had taken effect. That it was suggestion, pure and 



''PURITANICAL'' DIET AND MEDICINE 1 25 

Simple, and that it was the one enforced upon him 
on the occasion referred to, is evidenced by the fact 
that no other variety of apples had that effect upon 
his digestive apparatus. That the suggestions made 
at the same time in regard to other foods did not 
have the same effect upon him, was doubtless due 
to the fact that he had not especially craved any- 
thing but the apples, and hence the inhibition of 
other things had not so surprised and annoyed him. 
But when he was told that his favorite variety of 
apples was, alone of all others, indigestible, his sur- 
prise and annoyance were complete, and the impres- 
sion was lasting. Be that as it may, certain it is 
that no other article of diet troubled him ; and many 
years afterward, when he came to a knowledge of 
the law of suggestion, he was enabled to " throw off 
the spell '' by a vigorous course of auto-suggestion, 
and he thus restored the Rambo to the list of diges- 
tible fruits. 

But many victims of dietetic suggestions made on 
that principle during convalescence were not so for- 
tunate; for thousands have suffered all their subse- 
quent lives from having such suggestions enforced 
upon them in regard to the most simple and whole- 
some articles of diet. Most of them believe that 
their sickness was responsible for their subsequent 
stomach troubles, and they wonder why it is that 
their former favorite foods have ceased to be diges- 
tible, little realizing that it was because it was their 
favorite food that the doctor inhibited it during 
convalescence. 

Happily, as before intimated, there are but few 
dietetic cranks of the kind left among the doctors, 



126 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

iT^ ^ and the patient is now generally left to choose his 
a >^ own diet, except in certain cases where solid foods 
■^ 4^ are dangerous, as in typhoid fever. But many vic- 
' \ tims of the old practice still survive to make them- 
^ V selves and their families miserable by nursing the 
\ \ delusion that " whatever is real nice is either wicked 
X » ^ or indigestible/' 

V 4 It was not, however, alone in regard to diet that 
^ O the doctors of the early part of the last century prac- 
s. tised upon the principle that whatever was gratify- 

ing to the patient must, for that reason, be inhibited. 
Thus, it was long held as a cardinal principle of 
practice in cases of fever that the patient must be 
kept in a close, warm room, and on no account be 
allowed to drink cold water, or even to indulge in 
thoughts of snow or ice. Why? No one was ever 
able to give any better reason than that fresh air, 
cold water, or ice would have given comfort and 
pleasure to the patient. If forced to attempt a phil- 
osophical explanation of the " system,'' it would be 
said that, '' being sick, the patient's tastes are viti- 
ated, the whole order of nature is reversed, and he 
necessarily craves only that which is hurtful." Of 
course the explanation was as idiotic as the practice 
was abominable; but it revealed its origin in the 
then prevalent puritanical idea that in the moral 
realm whatever is pleasurable is necessarily sinful. 

Other illustrations might be given of the practice, 
for they were numerous, but these must suffice. I 
have mentioned this one because it was typical ; and 
no one who suffered from a fever in the olden time, 
and survived the treatment, will fail to verify what 
I have said. Happily, most of the old doctors who 



''PURITANICAL'' DIET AND MEDICINE 12/ 

practised under the system are dead, and physicians 
of the present day have reversed the practice. A 
fever patient is now given the benefit of all the 
fresh air available; he is allowed to drink all the 
cold water he wants; chopped ice is placed within 
his reach, and he is treated to cold ablutions at 
stated intervals. The result is that fever is no longer 
an unmitigated torture, and even typhoid fever is 
largely shorn of its ancient horrors. '' Good nurs- 
ing " is now the salient feature of treatment of that 
disease, and good nursing consists in doing every- 
thing to give the patient comfort by mitigating the 
severity of the fever. Under the old regime a good 
typhoid-fever nurse was one who would, with grim 
determination, refuse the appeals of the patient for 
some mitigation of the torture and cram a hideous 
mixture down her throat at frequent intervals. 

Again, the popular idea of medicine was derived 
from the same puritanical source. Hence it was that 
the efficiency of medicine was measured by its nasti- 
ness. No medicine that was pleasant to the taste was 
considered of any therapeutic value whatever. The 
old Thomsonian, or Botanical, system of medicine 
was apparently devised with special reference to that 
" principle.'' At any rate, it fell on fruitful soil, for 
it made its appearance at the supreme psychological 
moment when the value of all things was measured 
by the one standard. If there was any other stan- 
dard of therapeutic value than that of nastiness in 
the Thomsonian materia medica, it certainly was not 
manifest to the taste. In that system the relative 
therapeutic values of its different medicines were 
indicated by numerals; and No. i stood for that 



128 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

supreme herbal abomination known to botanists as 
lobelia inilata. If that herb had been selected to 
stand at the head of the list solely because of its 
nasty taste, no better selection could have been made. 
But it was selected because no human stomach could 
endure its presence for five minutes if the victim 
had sufficient vitality left to throw it off. In other 
words, it was used solely as an emetic; and an 
emetic was always ^' indicated '' under the Thom- 
sonian system, no matter what the disease might 
be. That the patient, if he survived, invariably felt 
better after recovering from the effects of a lobelia 
emetic, goes without saying; for it would be im- 
possible for him to feel worse than when that par- 
ticular variety of emetic was performing its mission. 
There are, in fact, more reasons than one why he 
should feel better after such an ordeal. In the first 
place, he feels both glad and surprised to find him- 
self alive ; and as the discomforts of illness are com- 
parative, a lobelia emetic causes all other human 
miseries to seem pleasurable. Moreover, if he sur- 
vives, he is encouraged, for his doctor is then en- 
abled to pronounce a favorable prognosis. Such an 
abounding vitality was equal to any emergency. 
This, in point of fact, w^as the secret of the unde- 
niable success which attended the Thomsonian sys- 
tem of practice in its early days. In addition to the 
universal nastiness of its decoctions, it required each 
patient to go through a certain definite '' course of 
medicine," in which the lobelia emetic, followed by 
steaming and sweating, was the never-failing initia- 
tory torture. If his vitality was equal to the strain, 
well and good; if not, his death was charged up 



''PURITANICAL'' DIET AND MEDICINE 129 

to Divine Providence, or to the doctor having been 
called too late, or to the '' Tothecary doctors" pre- 
viously in charge of the case. 

This, however, is a slight digression. My prin- 
cipal object in writing this chapter and the one 
preceding it is to show what an infinite variety of 
suggestions adverse to health are current in every 
civilized community; my ultimate object being to 
impress upon the mind of the reader the importance 
of studying the law of suggestion in its relations to 
that most important of the affairs of every-day life, 
— the diet upon which he feeds himself and those 
dependent upon him. 

No one needs to be told of the prepotent influence 
upon his health of the food he eats, nor does any one 
need to be informed that the benefit which one de- 
rives from food depends upon his powers of diges- 
tion and assimilation; but the majority of people 
do need to be informed that their powers of diges- 
tion and assimilation are absolutely within their 
own control. This is, indeed, the most important 
fact connected with the science of mental medicine; 
and when it is once generally understood, appreci- 
ated, and intelligently acted upon, the science of heal- 
ing disease by any process, mental or material, will 
be found to be of comparatively little importance. 



CHAPTER IX 

AUTO-SUGGESTION 

The Fundamental Psychological Principles restated. — Fatal Potency 
of Fear in Epidemics. — Pathological Power of " Expectant Atten- 
tion/' — Appendicitis. — Any Disease that can be induced by Sug- 
gestion can be avoided by Counter- Suggestion or by ignoring 
Adverse Suggestion. — Avoidance of Adverse Suggestion. — Sug- 
gestion in Connection with Habitual Drunkenness and Dipsomania. 
— Counter-Suggestion as a Prophylactic. — Danger of Injudicious 
Sympathy. — False Dietetic Suggestions to Children. 

THE reader will now once more recall the funda- 
mental psychological propositions upon which 
the science of mental medicine is based. They are : — 

1. That man is endowed with a dual mental or- 
ganism, or mind, — objective and subjective. 

2. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to 
control by the power of suggestion. 

3. The subjective mind controls the functions, 
sensations, and conditions of the body. 

At the risk of undue repetition, I again call at- 
tention to the obvious fact that if these propositions 
are true, man possesses within his own organism 
the means and the power to control disease, with or 
without aid from extraneous sources. 

I have now at some length discussed, seriatim, 
the above propositions with the object of impressing 
their exact truth upon the mind of the student, to 
the end that when he undertakes to apply them to 



A UTO'SUGGESTION I3 1 

practical uses he may know that he is wholly within 
the realm of scientific truth, and not groping in the 
darkness of mediaeval mysticism or savage super- 
stition. In other words, I desire to inspire the mind 
of the student with that perfect faith which alone 
is born of a knowledge of scientific truth, as distin- 
guished from the faith inspired by authority invested 
with mystery and occultism. Such was the faith of 
Jesus of Nazareth. He was endowed with a per- 
fect knowledge of the laws of the human soul and 
of its power over the material universe, and he knew 
how to direct its energies in the healing of the dis- 
eases of the body. This was the secret of his tran- 
scendent power, — of his never- failing success where 
the conditions could be commanded in the patient. 
He could not teach the science of mental therapeutics 
to his disciples, for they were mentally unprepared 
to receive or assimilate it. Their faith, therefore, 
was dependent alone upon the words and the ex- 
ample of the Master; and hence the frequent fluc- 
tuations of their power, even in his presence. 

It may be that science will never be able to impart 
a knowledge of the law of mental healing in such 
perfection as Jesus possessed it ; but in view of his 
promises, may we not reasonably hope to attain a 
knowledge sufficient for the practical purposes of 
life. 

It is in this hope that I have endeavored to point 
out what I conceive to be at least a valid working 
hypothesis for mental medicine. To that end I have 
discussed inductively the three fundamental propo- 
sitions, with what success the reader must judge. I 
have also pointed out some of the sources of danger 



132 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

arising from popular ignorance of the law of sug- 
gestion. I have dwelt upon the innumerable sug- 
gestions adverse to health which constantly beset the 
people of civilized countries, and pointed out some 
of their sources. I have laid particular stress upon 
those suggestions which attack the digestive organs, 
because they are the most common and easily recog- 
nized, and, on the whole, the most important. Ob- 
viously, whatever impairs our powers of digestion 
and assimilation saps the citadel of our material 
power. But in dwelling upon that particular source 
of popular danger from suggestion, it must not be 
inferred that other diseases are excluded. On the 
contrary, it is well known that there is no disease 
of the human body that may not be created, or sim- 
ulated, by the power of mind when stimulated by 
suggestion. It is asserted by physicians of experi- 
ence that in cholera epidemics a large proportion 
— more than half — of the cases are the result of 
*^ fear,'' otherwise suggestion. There is nothing to 
distinguish such cases from those of true Asiatic 
cholera, except, perhaps, the absence of the true 
cholera germ, or bacillus, in the suggestive cases. 
It is certain that all the salient symptoms of true 
cholera are present in that which is induced by sug- 
gestion, and that the percentage of fatal cases is 
greater in the latter class of cases. 

Again, it is well known that almost any one 
can cause an increased flow of blood to any part 
or organ of the body by merely concentrating his 
attention upon the part. If this can be done experi- 
mentally, it follows that persistence in such concen- 
tration will eventually induce congestion, especially 



A UTO -SUGGESTION 1 3 3 

if the concentration is prompted by fear of disease 
of the organ. It follows that no organ of the human 
body is immune from that prolific cause of disease. 

I know that I shall be trespassing upon the do- 
main of a popular surgical fad when I venture to 
instance appendicitis as a possible example of a dis- 
ease caused by " expectant attention '' or suggestion. 
Certain it is that in the good old days, before it 
was generally known that man had such a thing as 
a vermiform appendix concealed about his person, 
cases of appendicitis were very rare; and when one 
did come to light it was invariably said to be due 
to the presence of some foreign substance, — gen- 
erally a seed of some fruit that the patient had 
eaten. But since it was discovered that the vermi- 
form appendix can be removed for a few hundred 
dollars without necessarily killing the patient out 
of hand, the people have been educated in respect to 
that mysterious portion of their anatomy ; and cases 
of appendicitis have multiplied proportionately, so 
that now it must be a very ignorant man (or a 
very poor one) who cannot manage to have at least 
one case of appendicitis; and no surgeon can prop- 
erly be considered up to date who has been unable to 
capture at least half-a-dozen vermiform appendices. 

I am not unmindful that surgeons are provided 
with a very plausible explanation of this phenome- 
nal increase of cases of appendicitis within the last 
quarter of a century. They explain it on the ground 
that there are really no more cases of appendicitis 
now than formerly, in proportion to the population, 
but that, owing to ignorance, the doctors formerly 
attributed such cases to other causes, such as peri- 



134 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

tonitis, and thus sacrificed many lives that might 
have been saved by an operation, had the seat of the 
disease been recognized. 

Candor compels the admission that there may be 
much truth in the explanation. But it certainly does 
not account for all the increase, nor does it explain 
certain salient peculiarities of modern appendicitis. 
For instance, formerly that disease was always at- 
tributed to the presence of some irritant foreign 
substance in the mouth of the appendix; now, in 
more than half of the cases, no foreign substance is 
found. But, in all reported cases, serious inflamma- 
tion was found to exist, — enough, at least, to con- 
firm the doctor's diagnosis and justify the operation. 
What the unreported cases reveal there is no means 
of knowing. 

One of the salient peculiarities of the modern 
variety of appendicitis is that it prevails most among 
the educated, refined, and well to do. It seems to 
avoid carefully the homes of poverty and ignorance. 
I have no statistics to verify this statement, and it 
may be all wrong. But it is popularly believed to 
be true that ^' appendicitis is the rich man's disease." 
I certainly have never known of a case that contra- 
dicts that belief. 

But it would be grossly unjust to the medical 
profession to accept the popular explanation of the 
fact, which is, of course, that the doctor's diagnosis 
is governed by the ability of the patient to pay for 
an operation. This is not only palpably unjust, but 
it is unnecessary. In fact, if there was no other 
explanation, I should doubt the fact, '' for they_ai£. 
all honorable men .'' To those who have followed 



A UTO-SUGGESTION 1 3 5 

what has been said in regard to the potency of sug- 
gestion, it will be apparent that the prevalence of the 
disease among the educated classes is just what one 
might expect, for the following reasons : — 

In the first place, it is only the educated classes 
who know much about the disease, and it requires 
some knowledge of anatomy to locate definitely the 
vermiform appendix. The essential conditions neces- 
sary to enable one to concentrate his mind upon that 
appendage are, therefore, present with the well in- 
formed and entirely absent in the minds of the igno- 
rant. That is to say, one must know where to expect 
pain before he can induce it by ^'expectant attention." 
The ignorant, however, are not always immune, pro- 
vided they think they know where to look for un- 
toward symptoms, and are cursed with a morbid 
suggestibility. For instance, I knew one of that 
class who once became excited on the subject of 
appendicitis, and proceeded to inquire of a friend 
just where the vermiform appendix might be found. 
His friend, knowing his proneness to experience the 
symptoms of every disease he happened to read about, 
purposely misinformed him by giving him to under- 
stand that it was located on the left side of the lower 
abdomen. As usual, he began to watch for symp- 
toms; and, as usual, he was soon rewarded by feel- 
ing a decided uneasiness in the locality named. In 
less than a week he felt compelled to appeal to a 
specialist for relief, — which was instantly afforded, 
both as to his mind and his body, by being informed 
that he had selected the wrong locality for a good 
case of appendicitis. Nevertheless, it required the 
application of hot fomentations to relieve the in- 



136 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

flammation that had actually been induced in the 
suggested location. It is needless to say that if he 
had been correctly informed by his friend, the surgeon 
would not have been defrauded of a genuine case. 

Again, appendicitis is such a formidable proposi- 
tion, so distressing while it lasts, and its cure fraught 
with such danger to life, that it naturally excites the 
utmost dread in the minds of those who are familiar 
with the current literature on the subject. It would, 
therefore, constitute an exception to all known dis- 
eases if it failed to be attended with the usual results 
due to morbid suggestibility. The class thus afflicted, 
after reading up on the subject, begin by being very 
careful not to swallow any more fruit seeds; and if 
one accidentally slips down, they immediately begin 
to concentrate their minds upon their insides. The 
slightest symptom of uneasiness in the proper local- 
ity is magnified a thousand fold, vigilance is re- 
doubled and intensified, and the consequent pain and 
inflammation is induced. The result is an opera- 
tion, revealing a case of appendicitis minus a tangi- 
ble cause. The expected seed, or other irritant, is 
not in evidence. 

Another exciting cause of morbid suggestibility 
on this subject is the mystery with which science — 
or the want of it — has invested the vermiform ap- 
pendix. Scientists tell us that it is the vestigial 
remains of some organ that is no longer useful, 
whatever it may have been to our remote ancestors. 
This may be true; but the idea seems analogous to 
other assertions of science which are obviously made 
to conceal ignorance. Thus, scientists are prone to 
deny the existence of all occult things that they can- 



A UTO-SUGGESTION 137 

not explain, as in psychic phenomena. But the ver- 
miform appendix is a tangible reality the existence 
of which cannot be denied; and inasmuch as they 
are ignorant of its uses, they declare it to be useless. 
In other words, according to the theory of science, 
nature made a mistake in creating it, — a mistake 
all the more flagrant and inexcusable in that this 
" f unctionless organ'' (Gray) was placed, not where 
it would do the most good, but where it is a constant 
menace to life. 

If nature were in the habit of making mechanical 
mistakes in the construction of vital organs, the ap- 
pendix vermiformis might be charged up to that 
source; but, as no other organ has been found to 
be functionless, it must be presumed that God is 
wiser than man, — wiser, if possible, than the scien- 
tists who can find no other than professional uses 
for the vermiform appendix, — and that in the ful- 
ness of time that organ will be able to find a valid 
excuse for existing. In the meantime it will con- 
tinue to be constantly enhancing in value as a source 
of revenue for surgeons, so long, at least, as the 
public remains in ignorance of the potency of sug- 
gestions adverse to health. 

It is obvious that the remarks made in regard to 
cholera and appendicitis apply with equal force and 
pertinency to hundreds of other prevailing diseases, 
as well as to those diseases of the digestive organs 
mentioned in preceding chapters. The lesson is ob- 
vious, and it applies to all alike. It is that — 

Any disease that can be induced by suggestion 
can be avoided either by a counter suggestion or by 
ignoring the adverse suggestion. 



138 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

This is the most important lesson that any school 
of mental medicine has to teach, and it is but a prac- 
tical expression of the old aphorism that " an ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Moreover, 
it is a lesson that any one can put into instant prac- 
tice and reap an immediate reward. The science of 
mental healing is, indeed, important; but it requires 
more or less training and experience, whereas the 
ability to avoid disease by mental processes is within 
easy reach of all sane persons who understand the 
fundamental principles, or the salient facts, of the 
law of suggestion. 

The following self-evident propositions will make 
my meaning clear : — 

1. The efficacy of mental medicine is dependent 
upon mental conditions. 

2. Mental healing is accomplished by the induc- 
tion of favoring mental conditions in the patient. 

3. The one prepotent means of inducing that 
mental condition is suggestion. 

4. The power or energy that is capable of in- 
ducing a mental condition favorable to healing dis- 
ease is capable of preventing disease by the same 
process. 

5. The power that is equal to the task of either 
preventing or healing disease by mental processes 
is necessarily equal to the production of disease, con- 
ditions being reversed. 

6. Suggestion, therefore, is the one prepotent 
mental energy which is capable of inducing, pre- 
venting, or healing disease. 

It follows that suggestion is of practical value to 
man in exact proportion to the uses which he makes 



A UTO-SUGGESTION 1 39 

of it. That is to say, he may make it a blessing or 
a curse according to the uses for which it is em- 
ployed. But use it he must, for it pervades the 
mental atmosphere as the sunlight of heaven per- 
vades the solar system. He cannot escape it, for 
it is one of nature's all-pervasive forces and knows 
no variableness nor shadow of turning. Like every 
other law of nature, it is primarily for the highest 
benefit of mankind; but, like every other beneficent 
energy, it may destroy him if, either through ig- 
norance or perversity, he fails to place himself in 
harmony with it. 

It is a maxim of criminal jurisprudence that 
** ignorance of the law excuseth no man '' ; yet 
courts and juries sometimes exercise a discretionary 
clemency in cases where it is clear that no wrong 
was intended. But nature is inexorable in the ex- 
action of the fullest penalties for the violation of 
her laws, whether through perversity or ignorance; 
and as I have before remarked, the more benefi- 
cent the law, the more severe are the penalties for 
its violation. 

I have pointed out the fact that in this country 
popular ignorance of the law of suggestion has made 
us a nation of dyspeptics, multiplied the rate of mor- 
tality in epidemic diseases, and virtually created a 
new surgical disease, painful to the last degree, fatal 
if not cured, and dangerous in the extreme in the 
process of cure; and yet I have covered only a small 
part of the field where ignorance of the law, and false 
suggestions, are doing their fatal work. I have done 
this, not as an alarmist, not for the purpose of ad- 
vertising and promoting the sale of a new-fangled 



140 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICLXE 

patent nostrum, — not even for the purpose of ad- 
vocating a new system of healing disease. In Part 
II. of this book I shall point out what I conceive to 
be the most rational method of practising the art 
of mental healing. But thus far I have devoted my 
energies to the task of familiarizing the public mind 
wuth the fundamental law the violation of which en- 
tails disease everywhere, to the end that I might point 
out a remedy, without money and without price, and 
within the reach of all, whereby the great bulk of cur- 
rent diseases may be avoided, and doctors and their 
medicines relegated to a state of innocuous desuetude. 

Those who have follov/ed my remarks thus far 
have already anticipated the substance of the few 
words of advice with w^hich I propose to close this 
part of my work. 

There are two ways of avoiding the effects of cur- 
rent suggestions adverse to health: the first is by 
avoiding the suggestions themselves; and the second 
is by opposing a counter self-suggestion. The first 
is the easier and more effective; but it applies prin- 
cipally to those whose health is not already impaired 
by adverse suggestions or other influences. 

\Miat is here meant by avoiding adverse sugges- 
tions is that one should avoid reading, talking, or 
thinking about pathological conditions of the hu- 
man body. This may seem like an advocacy of 
popular ignorance of those subjects; and in a sense 
it is such. But it is justified on the ground that the 
health of the masses is of greater importance than 
popular education in patholog}\ Besides, the inhi- 
bition does not exclude a proper amount of popular 
education in anatomy and physiolog}\ But the study 



A UTO-SCJGGESTION 1 4 1 

of disease should be restricted to those who expect 
to engage in the practice of the art of healing the 
sick. In this connection the reader will not forget 
what has been said of the proneness of medical stu- 
dents, and even of some doctors, to evoke in them- 
selves, by unconscious auto-suggestion, the symptoms 
of every disease they are called upon to study. 

My remarks, however, are not intended to apply 
to the acquisition of a truly scientific knowledge of 
pathology, whatever the object may be; but it is 
hoped that they m.ay serve as a warning, even to 
medical students, against the practice of '' introspec- 
tion '' with the view of finding symptoms corre- 
sponding with those they are studying. What I do 
strongly advise against is the common practice of 
reading, studying, and inwardly digesting the popu- 
lar literature on the subjects of disease, and espe- 
cially of diet. I have already stated my reasons at 
some length, and it is unnecessar}' to repeat beyond 
reminding the reader that the current stuff on those 
subjects is generally written by those who know least 
about them, — often by cranks who are themselves 
the victim.s of false suggestions by other cranks, and 
they of others, and so on ad mfmilum. AA'e have 
already seen how a false suggestion, based upon a 
false premise, perpetuates itself from generation to 
generation and spreads itself over new domains 
which are entirely foreign to the original, — as from 
religion to diet and from diet to medicine, etc. 

Horace Greeley once remarked that '' the way to 
resume specie payments is to resume." In like man- 
ner the lesson we are seeking to enforce may be 
summarized: The way to avoid suggestions adverse 



142 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

to health is to avoid them. That is to say, never 
allow them to enter your mind from any avoidable 
source; and if they have been thrust upon you by 
others, avoid dwelling upon them in your medita- 
tions. Above all, do not make a personal applica- 
tion to yourself of everything you chance to hear 
about the food that others have found by personal 
experience to be hurtful, for the chances are a thou- 
sand to one that they are themselves simply the vic- 
tims of false suggestions. In other words, avoid 
" introspection " while eating and during the pro- 
cess of digestion; for you will surely find what you 
are looking for, especially if you are expecting symp- 
toms of indigestion. 

Again, as you value the well-being of your family 
and friends, do not obtrude your own ideas, if you 
have any, about the unwholesomeness of particular 
dishes on the bill of fare before you. Remember 
that ^others have rights which ought to be indefeas- 
ible, among which is the right to the undisturbed 
enjoyment of the pleasures of the table and the con- 
sequent good digestion. But if you are an average 
dietetic crank, this advice will go unheeded; for 
that ubiquitous personality enjoys nothing at the 
table except making his own infirmities conspicuous 
and warning others of the wrath to come if they 
indulge in anything fit to eat. It is a fact, confirmed 
by extensive observation, that one such crank, turned 
loose upon a perfectly healthy family, with digestive 
organs previously unimpaired, will gradually inocu- 
late the whole family with his mental virus, and 
cause the most healthful articles of food, one by 
one, to be banished from the table as indigestible. 



AUTO-SUGGESTION 143 

The exercise of just a little common sense will 
enable you to avert the consequences of such sug- 
gestions when they are thrust upon you at the table 
by some crank whose flow of eloquence you do not 
feel at liberty to restrain. All one needs to do, 
in most cases, is to ask oneself what reason is 
found in common experience, or in the inherent 
character of the food itself, for pronouncing it indi- 
gestible or otherwise hurtful. If none is found, he 
is provided with a counter suggestion based upon 
reason and experience, and it is his own fault if he 
allows the false suggestion, which contravenes reason 
and experience, to obtain the mastery. But if, on 
the other hand, he is not endowed with common 
sense, or, in other words, if he belongs to the class 
of '' chronic reformers," he will be apt to accept the 
false suggestion for the very reason that it con- 
demns the habits and contravenes the experience of 
mankind. '' Whatever is, is wrong " being their 
shibboleth, they condemn every existing institution, 
custom, or habit found in civilization; and hence 
they inveigh against the common diet of civilized 
mankind with the same emotional enthusiasm that 
they would manifest in a crusade against the insti- 
tution of human slavery. In point of fact, the 
chronic reformer is a factor that must be reckoned 
with, in more ways than one, when dealing with 
suggestions adverse to health and the good order of 
society, for he is as apt to attack the practice of 
monogamy as of polygamy; and even when he in- 
stitutes a crusade against the recognized evils of 
society, he frequently does more harm than good. 
He not only brings his cauj^e into disrepute by in- 



144 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

temperate zeal and idiotic methods, as in the ''hatchet 
crusade " for the reformation of drunkards, but the 
average temperance fanatic is full of suggestions that 
have a direct tendency to encourage drunkenness. 
Thus, the drunkard is constantly told that he is such 
because it is "impossible for him to resist" the temp- 
tation to drink when he feels like it, that it is impos- 
sible for him to reform so long as liquor is for sale, 
and that it is impossible for him to resist the temp- 
tation to abuse his family when he is drunk. These 
suggestions are so persistently iterated and reiterated 
and drummed into the ears of the " poor drunkards/' 
that nine-tenths of them actually believe them, and 
hence regard themselves as helpless victims to be 
pitied and coddled, rather than as criminals deserv- 
ing the lash. The result is that they do not try to 
resist, because the suggestion is with them that it is 
impossible. 

The most potent suggestion, however, that the 
drunkard is beset withal, is the one that tells him 
that when he has taken one drink it is impossible 
for him to refrain from taking a second, and a 
third, and so on, until he is in a condition that ren- 
ders it necessary for him to go home and pound his 
wife. The reason is not far to seek. 

It is well known to psychologists that drunkards, 
especially of the class now referred to, are thrown 
into the subjective condition by drinking anything 
intoxicating. This is true of most people; but it is 
especially true of those who are in the habit of drink- 
ing to excess, and in many cases one glass is suffi- 
cient to induce the subjective condition to such an 
extent as to render them extremely amenable to sug- 



AUTO-SUGGESTION 145 

gestion. It follows that when one of that class has 
taken one drink, the ever-present suggestion that he 
cannot refrain from taking another, exerts its full 
influence upon him; and the result is that he does 
not try to resist the temptation to plunge into a pro- 
longed debauch. When remonstrated with after the 
debauch is ended, he invariably says that after taking 
the first drink he is moved by an uncontrollable im- 
pulse to take another, after which he loses all desire 
to restrain himself. 

This indicates the purely subjective origin of the 
impulse, and distinguishes it from the ordinary desire 
for stimulants arising from nervous or mental de- 
pression. Its subjective origin is further indicated 
by the fact that the impulse amounts to a positive 
mania, and hence it is designated as " dipsomania," 
to distinguish it from ordinary habitual drunken- 
ness. Like other manias, it is a mental disease aris- 
ing from some form of suggestion; and the only 
obvious form of suggestion that could produce the 
result would be such as I have indicated. It is true 
that it may be partly traditional; but at any rate it 
is kept alive and potent by the constantly reiterated 
declaration by temperance extremists that the " poor 
drunkard," having once tasted liquor, is powerless 
to restrain himself from continuing the debauch. 
It not only confirms the dipsomaniac in his in- 
firmity, but it has a constant tendency to convert 
the ordinary habitual drunkard into a victim of 
that most appalling and dangerous of all forms of 
inebriety. 

This may seem like a digression ; but it is justified 
by its importance, as showing that a prolific source 



146 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

of suggestions adverse to health, as well as to the 
good order of society, is found in the fanatics and 
degenerates who infest every civilized community. 
Nothing is too sacred to be meddled with by the 
hysterical imbecile who holds that whatever is, is 
wrong. 

The distinguishing characteristic of a normal man- 
hood is the ability to adapt oneself to his environment. 
Individually the crank is known by his inability to 
live in harmony with any of his environmental con- 
ditions, religious, political, or sociological. Collec- 
tively they are recognized by their propensity to 
organize themselves into societies for the promul- 
gation of " new ideas," especially such as are either 
incapable of verification or are palpably out of har- 
mony with established truth. As one values a health- 
ful mental environment, he should avoid them as he 
would a pestilence. 

Truth perpetuates itself by virtue of its own in- 
herent vitality, and it organizes its own following 
from among those who recognize it by its harmony 
with all other truth. It needs no human organiza- 
tion to promulgate it, for it is self-generating; nor 
to perpetuate it, for it is eternal. Every truth is 
itself a part of an organized system, which is co- 
extensive with the universe of God. Hence no truth 
is unimportant or insignificant, for the grand sys- 
tem would be incomplete without it. Suspend one 
law of physical nature but for one moment, and the 
physical universe would disintegrate. Suspend one 
law of mind and soul, and mental chaos would super- 
vene. And as all the laws of nature are interrelated, 
and constitute one stupendous unitary system, it fol- 



AUTO-SUGGESTION 147 

lows that a suspension of one law, physical or mental, 
would result in universal chaos. 

Analogous to the suspension of a natural law is its 
violation, for in either case the harmony of the uni- 
verse is disturbed. The results differ only in that, 
in the case of the violation of law, the inharmony 
affects only the guilty party and his dependents. But 
as to them, the appropriate penalties are inflicted with 
inexorable exactitude in proportion to the extent to 
which the law is violated. Evil, therefore, is but 
another name for inharmony, and its origin is found 
in the violation of the laws of God, physical, mental, 
or moral. The laws themselves are not evil, nor 
are they productive of evil. From the greatest to 
the least, they are designed for the ultimate good of 
man, provided only that he places himself in har- 
mony with them. They are the embodiment of Eter- 
nal Truth, and no false conclusion or suggestion can 
be derived from a knowledge of their provisions. 

On the other hand, every falsehood, every error, 
every wrong idea is a prolific source of possible evil, 
for no correct conclusion can be drawn from a false 
premise. Hence the suggestions arising from error 
and falsehood are necessarily wrong, misleading, and 
productive of untold evil consequences; and hence 
the necessity for constantly guarding the portals of 
the subjective mind against them. The safest sen- 
tinel to put on guard for that purpose is Reason, and 
the price of safety is eternal vigilance. 

This brings us to a consideration of the second 
method of averting the consequences of the current 
suggestions adverse to health. This method, as be- 
fore stated, consists in the interposition of a counter- 



148 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDLCINE 

t 

vailing suggestion, whenever an adverse suggestion 
is thrust upon you. The method is simple to the last 
degree, and it is as effective as it is easy of applica- 
tion. It consists in denying the truth of the adverse 
suggestion. By this I do not mean that an open con- 
troversy should be indulged in. On the contrary, 
that should be avoided ; for it would merely cause a 
reiteration of the suggestion with increased emphasis 
and a fresh eruption of persuasive eloquence. The 
denial should be made mentally, and it should be 
persisted in as long as the suggestion continues to 
be inflicted. After that the subject should be ignored, 
— banished from the mind. 

A good way to silence a chronic dyspeptic is to 
boast of your own good digestive powers. It may 
be impolite; and certainly nothing so deeply offends 
a chronic dyspeptic as to be told that somebody else 
is immune from that malady. But self-preservation 
is the first law of nature. You owe it to yourself to 
shield your own mental and physical organism from 
the virus that is poisoning his ; and the assertion that 
your digestive powers are perfect is the surest way 
to m.ake them perfect, or to keep thern so. It is a 
countervailing auto-suggestion which you owe to 
yourself, even at the risk of enraging your friend, 
the chronic dyspeptic. 

Chronic invalids of all kinds are prone to discourse 
exhaustively on the subject of their miseries when- 
ever they can victimize a sympathetic listener. Their 
egotism is unbounded; and it never occurs to them 
that the full history of their aches, their pains, their 
symptoms, and their movements may not possess 
the same absorbing interest to others that it does to 



A UTO-SUGGESTION 1 49 

themselves. Nor does it occur to them that they are 
inflicting a positive wrong upon their listeners by 
filling their minds with suggestions adverse to their 
own health. Sympathy is the boon they crave, and 
it is all too often injudiciously extended to them; 
for the sympathetic remarks of friends often amount 
to suggestions that confirm and increase the morbid 
mental condition of the sufferer. 

For instance, the most dangerous blessing that a 
chronic dyspeptic can have about him is a sympa- 
thetic wife who is ignorant of the law of suggestion. 
Her constant watchfulness over his diet is something 
appalling. Knowing his infirmity, and dreading his 
erratic temper when he is stricken with a fit of indi- 
gestion, she conscientiously arms herself with all 
the current misinformation on the subject of diete- 
tics, and proceeds to make his life miserable at meal- 
times by doling it out as occasion seems to require. 
With true wifely devotion she watches every mouth- 
ful that he attempts to regale himself withal, and 
pounces upon him at intervals with, " Henry, you 
m.ust not eat'' this, or that, or the other; ''it will 
surely make you sick." And if Henry heeds her 
admonitions, he makes his meal of bran bread, or, 
perhaps, of some other equally innutritions " mush " 
that is advertised in the newspapers as being " pre- 
digested." The result is that he rises from the table 
with his digestive apparatus still further weakened 
by disuse, atrophied for the want of exercise, con- 
firmed in its vicious habits by a fresh instalment of 
pernicious suggestions, — suggestions made by the 
best of wives with the best intentions. His whole 
body becomes weakened for the lack of proper nutri- 



ISO THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

ment, and he becomes an easy prey to every disease 
that prevails in his vicinage. He becomes morbid 
in mind as well as in body„ He dwells upon his in- 
firmities in his meditations, and, in pursuit of sym- 
pathy, thrusts them upon the attention of all with 
whom he comes in contact. If he gets the coveted 
sympathy, he is confirmed in his morbidity. If not, 
he " gets mad,'' and complains that the whole world 
is in league against him; and if any one, in self- 
defence, presumes to mention his own good health, 
he is immediately catalogued as an enemy who is 
seeking to destroy the only comfort and consolation 
derivable from dyspepsia. 

On the other hand, the hypothetical " Henry " 
sometimes rebels against his wife's sympathetic es- 
pionage. Weak for the lack of nourishment, he 
comes to the table with an enormous appetite, and 
proceeds to eat what he likes best, regardless of the 
apprehensions of his faithful wife and monitor. But 
he does not escape her admonitions; for she is 
sure to remind him that his stomach is diseased 
and his appetite morbid, — craving ''only that which 
is indigestible," and so on to the end of the dis- 
mal chapter. But Henry is defiant, and, prompted 
by both appetite and perversity, overloads his 
stomach. Then follows a season of reflection 
upon the suggestions that have been made, self- 
condemnation for having eaten anything at all, and 
the usual introspection — watching for untoward 
symptoms — which he is sure to experience. If he 
is in business, he goes in search of his employees, 
and — 



A UTO-SUGGESTION 1 5 1 

" Discharges the best of 'em, 
Swears at the rest of 'em, 
Kicks the office cat, 
Jumps upon his hat," ^ 

and otherwise disports himself with an eye single 
to conquering comfort and consolation by making 
everybody else as miserable as he is himself. All 
of this might have been averted by a little judi- 
cious withholding of wifely sympathy, especially at 
mealtimes. 

The only safe rule, either for dyspeptics or well 
persons, is to taboo rigidly the subject of dietetics 
as a topic of conversation at mealtimes. Incalculable 
injury is often inflicted upon the children of healthy 
households by the incessant watchfulness of parents 
over their diet, especially in regard to desserts or 
other luxuries of which they are particularly fond. 
A due amount of caution is, of course, necessary; 
but it should be exercised when ordering the bill of 
fare, and it generally is. No sane person puts a 
dish before his children that is hurtful. But to hear 
the average parent discourse to his children upon the 
hurtfulness of the food set before them, one would 
think that the cook was suspected of having resolved 
to poison the whole family. 

The truth is that nine-tenths of the talk to chil- 
dren about the hurtfulness of food is prompted by 
motives of economy. It is a constipation of the 
pocket-book, rather than the hurtfulness of food, 
that causes many a child to be tortured by the pres- 
ence of luxuries that he is not permitted to enjoy 
in common with the older members of the family. 

1 Holmes, " The Dyspeptic." 



152 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDLCINE 

But whatever the motive may be, the point is that 
the luxuries of the table should never be denied to 
children on the ground that they are hnrtftd. 

In the jfirst place, if they are actually hurtful, they 
should not be on the table. If not, a double wrong 
is perpetrated against the child. To say nothing of 
the heartless selfishness involved in depriving a child, 
from motives of sordid stinginess, of his share of 
the good things on the table, the example set before 
him of falsehood and deceit on the part of the par- 
ents is a moral wrong that may affect the child's 
whole future. If he does not follow their example, 
he will at least despise his parents for setting it. Be 
that as it may, the outrage upon his physical organ- 
ism is sure to be followed by its legitimate conse- 
quences, namely, a disordered stomach and weakened 
powers of digestion. 

The seeds of the disease which has distinguished us 
as ^^ a nation of dyspeptics " are sown in the minds 
of our children at the table by the incessant nagging 
of ignorant or sordid parents. 

Nor is the wrong thus inflicted upon the little ones 
measured alone by the false suggestions and their 
inevitable consequences. The appetite of the average 
child is not only a good measure of its digestive 
powers, but its ^' longings '' are the best evidences 
of what it needs. For instance, many children are 
possessed of what the average mother regards as a 
"morbid appetite" for sv/eets; and sweets are, con- 
sequently, inhibited, with the inevitable suggestions 
regarding the hurtfulness of good things in general 
and sweet things in particular. Of course, the more 
strictly sweets are inhibited, the more intense are the 



A UTO-SUGGESTION I S 3 

child's longings for them. This the mother usually 
regards as natural perversity, inherited from our 
grandmother Eve, and she redoubles her vigilance 
accordingly. 

Now, the truth is that children have an appetite 
for sugar because they need sugar, — because of a 
deficiency in the physical organism of the element 
which saccharine matter in some form alone sup- 
plies. " Nature '' cries out for it with an insistence 
proportioned to its necessities, just as it cries out for 
water when the supply of that element is deficient. 

The obvious lesson is that when a child develops 
a strong appetite for sweets, instead of filling its 
mind with false suggestions as to the hurtfulness of 
what it craves, it should be given free and unlimited 
access to the sugar-bowl. Nothing is more nutri- 
tious than sugar, and few things are more easily 
digested and assimilated. As in case of all other 
nutritious foods, a strong appetite for it is good 
evidence, not only that the system needs it, but that 
the stomach can digest it, — provided always that 
the functions of that organ are not interfered v^ith 
by adverse suggestions. 

Suggestions apart, few children who have a strong 
appetite for sugar have ever been injured by giving 
it to them in practically unlimited quantities. On 
the other hand, many such have been grievously in- 
jured by being deprived of it; and I have known 
weakly, puny children to be rendered strong and 
robust by satisfying what appeared to the mother 
to be a morbid craving for sugar. 

The remarks made about sugar apply with some- 
what diminishing force, perhaps, to foods of which 



154 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

sugar is a prominent ingredient; for example, the 
ordinary sweet-cakes and other desserts in common 
use on American tables. Few, if any, are so com- 
pounded as to justify withholding them from children 
who are fond of them. 

It is not my province, however, in a work like 
this, to lay down any hard and fast rules of diet. 
This is not a cook-book, nor is it a treatise on 
dietetics. My duty will have been performed to 
the best of my ability when I point out the salient 
features of typical cases where false and pernicious 
suggestions do their deadly work. In other words, 
I can only point out general principles and invite at- 
tention to a few illustrative examples. In carrying 
the principles into practice everything must neces- 
sarily be left to private judgment; and I can only 
enjoin upon my readers the necessity of exercising 
just a little common sense, remembering that there 
are but a few simple rules to observe in the employ- 
ment of suggestion as a prophylactic, or preventive of 
disease. The most important are the following : — 

1. Avoid all suggestions, from extraneous sources, 
which are adverse to health. 

2. If such suggestions are forced upon you, meet 
them by counter suggestions affirmative of your own 
immunity from the suggested diseases. 

3. Inhibit all conversation at the table adverse to 
the quality of the food set before you, especially as 
to its supposed indigestibility. 

4. Never refuse to give a child the food it desires 
on the ground of its hurtfulness. If you are too 
stingy to give him what he wants, say so. But, as you 
value the health of your child, never suggest that 



A UTO-SUGGESTION 1 5 5 

the food he eats is Hable to ''make him sick/' — first, 
because you know you are lying, and, secondly, be- 
cause he will find it out some day, and despise you 
for it. 

5. Talk hopefully to the chronic invalid, for his 
sake; and for your own sake, when you leave him, 
thank God that you are immune from his diseases. 

6. Think health and talk health on all suitable 
occasions, remembering that under the law of sug- 
gestion health may be made contagious as well as 
disease. 

7. Finally, meet the first symptom of disease with 
a vigorous and persistent auto-suggestion of your 
immunity from disease or of your ability to throw 
it off. When you go to bed at night, direct your 
subjective mind to employ itself during your sleep 
in restoring normal conditions, strongly affirming its 
ability to do so; and when you rise in the morning, 
assume the attitude, in mind and body,^ of restored 

1 The significance of this remark will be better understood when it 
is known that in hypnotic experiments it has been found that the atti- 
tude of the body reacts upon the subjective mind, producing corre- 
sponding suggestions of the most powerful character. Thus, the 
placing of a hypnotized subject in a devotional attitude induces corre- 
sponding feehngs, which in turn are carried over into corresponding 
actions and expressions; whilst placing the subject in a pugilistic at- 
titude and doubling his fists, enrages him and induces corresponding 
actions, often of the most pronounced character. By reasoning from 
these well-known facts, the conclusion was deduced that a powerful 
therapeutic auto-suggestion could be made by assuming the bodily 
attitude of strength and vigor, for example, standing erect, throwing 
the shoulders back, expanding the chest, etc., accompanying the action 
with a corresponding mental attitude and words affirmative of renewed 
vigor and immunity from disease. 

I am indebted for this idea to one of the ablest of Ohio jurists, who 
has for many years given much intelligent attention to the study of 



I $6 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

health and vigor. Should these prophylactic efforts 
fail to produce the desired effect, and should dis- 
ease come upon you in spite of them, it is not the 
fault of the system. It is because you are not well 
grounded in the conditions precedent to success. 
Mental remedies are dependent for success upon 
mental conditions, just as physical remedies are de- 
pendent for their efficacy upon physical conditions. 

Obviously, the necessary mental conditions cannot 
always be commanded in the adult who has been 
reared in an atmosphere of doubt and incredulity 
regarding the efficacy of other than material reme- 
dies. Faith in the latter has been crystallized into a 
race prejudice which has been enhanced by the gross 
superstitions and obvious charlatanry of many who 
practise mental therapeutics. It will take years, per- 
haps centuries, to overcome the evil thus wrought. 

Again, there are many who fail through persistent 
perversity, or, to put the most charitable construction 
upon their conduct, through sheer weakness of intel- 
lect, — inability to comprehend the simplest proposi- 
tion relating to the conditions of success in suggestive 
therapeutics. Nothing can induce them to assume a 
hopeful, or even a passive, attitude of mind. They 
take special delight in being able to say that they 



suggestive therapeutics, especially to auto-suggestion as a prophylactic 
agent. He informs me that he has derived untold benefit from the 
practice ; and my own subsequent observations and experience confirm 
every word that he says. Extreme weariness, bodily or mental, may 
be relieved in that way, thus enabling one, in cases of emergency, 
temporarily to renew his activity. Deep inhalations of atmospheric 
air are valuable accompaniments to the practice, as they revitalize the 
blood, promote its circulation, and stimulate to normal activity every 
cell of which the body is composed. 



A UTO-SUGGESTION 1 5 / 

have not been benefited in the least by the treatment, 
even when it is a palpable falsehood. In a word, no 
argument can induce them to refrain from continu- 
ally making auto-suggestions adverse not only to 
their own health, but to the possibility of its restora- 
tion by other than material remedies. 

Obviously, suggestive treatment, in the ordinary 
sense of the word, is not adapted to such cases. It 
must be a ^Marvated suggestion'' (Pitzer), if any, 
that can overcome either the perversity or the im- 
becility thus manifested. 

To such, and to all who from any cause fail to 
experience the benefits of suggestive treatment, my 
advice is to go at once to the physician in whom they 
have the most confidence, without reference to the 
school to which he belongs. It is far more important 
that you should have confidence in your physician 
than it is that he should know anything about your 
case; for in the latter event he will doubtless give 
you a placebo, which is always safe, and usually effi- 
cacious when administered with its due proportion 
of suggestion. This is what Dr. Pitzer designates 
as a ^' larvated suggestion." It is in common use 
among the medical profession, and its value as a 
therapeutic agent cannot be overestimated. 



^att €toa 



THE CORRELATION OF THE FACTS OF 

PSYCHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN CONNECTION 

WITH MENTAL HEALING 



^art €to0 



THE CORRELATION OF THE FACTS OF 

PSYCHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN CONNECTION 

WITH MENTAL HEALING 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

The Facts of Psychology and Physiology to be Correlated. — All 
Organic Tissue composed of Intelligent Microscopic Cells. — Dis- 
ease of the Body is Disease of the Cells of the Body. — The Cells 
amenable to Control by the Subjective Mind. — The Fluidic The- 
ory of Mesmerism. — The Nancy School. — The Force or Energy 
which controls the Bodily Functions a Mental Energy. — It oper- 
ates upon the Subordinate Intelligent Cells through the Nerves. — 
Histionic Suggestion. — The Nerves the Mechanism for the Con- 
veyance of Therapeutic Impulse from Healer to Patient. — Histionic 
Suggestion effective without Hypnotism and in Defiance of Adverse 
Auto-S uggestions. 

CONSIDERED from a purely psychological 
standpoint, the working hypothesis for men- 
tal healing which is set forth in Part I. of this book 
seems to be complete and valid; that is to say, it 
fully and completely explains all the facts of purely 
mental healing that have yet been brought to light 
through the indefinite number of '' systems '' that 
are now in vogue or of which history informs us. 

Much remains to be done, however, before mental 
medicine can be said to rest upon a purely scientific 



1 62 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

basis. Other sciences remain to be explored, namely, 
physiology and histology, or physiological psychol- 
ogy, before an adequate knowledge of the subject 
can be approximated ; for, whilst the force or energy 
employed in mental healing may be purely psycho- 
logical, that energy is expended upon a physiological 
structure. This presupposes a nexus between the 
two ; and although this nexus may be intangible and 
hence incapable of being dragged to light by means 
of the surgeon's forceps, we may hope to find the 
machinery in the anatomical or histological struc- 
ture of man, through which the psychological energy 
operates in the production of therapeutic results. If, 
then, we find the mechanism especially • adapted to 
its supposed uses, a great point will be gained, for 
we shall have a right to infer that it is so employed. 
In other words, the correlation of the facts of psy- 
chology with those of physiology with reference to 
the problem of mental healing will afford conclusive 
evidence as to the correctness of our fundamental 
psychological hypothesis. jMoreover, as the discov- 
ery of a new truth invariably leads to a solution of 
old problems, it is hoped that this will constitute no 
exception to the rule. 

I hope, therefore, to be able, first, to point out the 
physiological machinery through which the subjec- 
tive mind operates to produce therapeutic results. 
In this there will be nothing new to science except 
my conclusions ; for I shall accept, at their full value, 
all the facts which modern science has discovered in 
reference to the histological structure of sentient be- 
ings, — facts which no scientist pretends to doubt or 
deny, — facts which lie at the basis of all accepted 



INTRODUCTORY 1 63 

modern physiological science. To this end I shall 
draw largely upon the accepted facts of histology, 
which is the branch of biology that treats of the 
structure of the tissues of organized bodies, — in 
short, microscopic anatomy. The salient histologi- 
cal fact upon which I shall dwell is that all organic 
tissue is made up of microscopic cells, each one of 
which is a living, intelligent entity. This includes 
the bones, hair, and nails, as well as the muscles 
and nerves, and all other portions of the organic 
structure. 

I shall also accept the latest and most universally 
accepted, because the most obviously true, theory of 
disease; namely, that a disease of the body is a dis- 
ease of the cells of the body. This is, indeed, a 
corollary of the demonstrable fact that all organic 
tissue is composed of cells. It follows that the cure 
of disease consists in restoring the diseased cells 
to normal health and activity (metabolism). How 
to effect that object, however, is where doctors 
disagree. 

Thus far my statements will not be disputed by any 
living scientist, or by modern doctors of medicine who 
keep pace with the discoveries of medical research. 
But when I attempt to show that the cellular struc- 
ture of the physical man is the basic fact of mental 
healing, I shall probably run counter to some very 
old and very pronounced prejudices. Nevertheless, 
I shall attempt to show that these intelligent enti- 
ties, which we call cells, and of which the whole body 
is composed, are obviously amenable to control by 
mental impulses from the central intelligence which 
controls the functions of the body, and that they, in 



%. 



1 64 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

fact, constitute the machinery by and through which 
the mind controls the body in health and disease. 
Nor shall I be entirely unsupported in this view, for 
I shall be able to quote the highest materialistic 
authority admitting the existence of a central intelli- 
gence in man which controls the functions of each 
individual cell of which the whole body is composed. 
In fact, no intelligent person denies the existence 
and potency of this central power and intelligence 
which keeps the machinery of organic life in opera- 
tion. It has been variously designated as " the vital 
principle," " the principle of life," '' the soul," ^^ the 
communal soul," " the unconscious mind," '' the sub- 
conscious mind," '' the subliminal consciousness," 
^* the subjective mind," etc., the designation being 
governed by the point of view from which the sub- 
ject is treated. But no one, be he materialist or 
spiritualist,^ denies its existence, or that it is en- 
dowed with an intelligence commensurate with the 
functions it performs in organic life. Philosophers 
may differ in their views as to its origin, or its 
ultimate destiny, or its psychological significance 
outside of the functions it performs in keep- 
ing the machinery of life in motion; but no one 
denies its existence, its intelligence, or its power 
over the functions, sensations, and conditions of 
the body. 

It will be seen, therefore, that I am not citing any 
facts that are new to science. I am merely giving a 
slightly new interpretation to the old and universally 
admitted facts of science when I point out the obvi- 

1 I use the word in its broad signification, as the antithesis of 
" materialist." 



INTRODUCTORY 165 

ous truth that this central intelHgence, operating 
upon the myriad intelHgences of which the physical 
organism is composed, constitutes the mechanism, so 
to speak, by which the mind controls the body in 
health and disease. 

I have ventured to designate this central intelli- 
gence as the '' subjective mind; '' and I have shown, 
in Part I. of this book, that it is constantly amenable 
to control by the power of suggestion, — thus point- 
ing out a means by which the machinery of mental 
healing may be set in motion, either by the patient 
himself or by others. In doing so, however, I have 
merely reiterated, with the greater emphasis and 
elaboration that are justified by added years of ex- 
perience and observation, what I had previously laid 
down in '' The Law of Psychic Phenomena.'' In 
that work I was the first to formulate a working 
hypothesis, applicable alike to all methods, for the 
systematic study and practice of mental healing ; and 
I am proud to say that since then many successful 
schools of suggestive therapeutics have been founded 
whose faculties acknowledge that formula to be the 
expression of the fundamental law of mental medi- 
cine. And I hasten to remark that, in what I shall 
have to say hereinafter, nothing of that formula will 
be taken back or modified ; but much will be said in 
explanation of phenomena that have hitherto, in the 
opinion of many, refused to range themselves under 
the law of suggestion. 

I allude especially to the phenomena of so-called 
" animal magnetism,'' or, as it has been designated 
in honor of its supposed discoverer, " mesmerism." 
This includes all those seemingly miraculous cures 



1 66 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

which, in both ancient and modern times, have been 
effected by personal contact or digital manipulation, 

— otherwise, ^' the laying on of hands/' 

It is a matter of history that in all the ages of 
mankind marvelous cures have been effected by the 
laying on of hands. But no attempt was ever made 
to account for the phenomena on anything like scien- 
tific grounds until Mesmer essayed an explanation 
on the hypothesis of fluidic emanations from the 
healer, impinging upon the patient, and carrying 
with them a fresh stock of health and vitality. The 
logical absurdity of explaining the unknown by some- 
thing still more unknown seems never to have oc- 
curred to either Mesmer or his followers; and they 
made the all too common mistake of taking it for 
granted that when once a name was given to a phe- 
nomenon, all further explanations were superfluous 
and impertinent. And so it happened that Mesmer's 
followers held, and still hold, with hysterical insist- 
ence, that the term " animal magnetism " affords a 
complete scientific explanation of the phenomena of 
healing by laying on of hands, passes, or other 
forms of digital manipulation. If asked what " ani- 
mal magnetism " is, they reply that it is a '' fluidic 
emanation" from the healer; and if pressed for an 
explanation as to what the '^ fluid " is, their reply is 
that it is *' animal magnetism." And there you are, 

— forever in the *^ vicious circle." 

In the meantime the scientific opponents of Mesmer 
have been equally loud and insistent and hysterical 
in their opposition to the fluidic theory, even when 
constrained to admit the phenomena, — which most 
of them denied for many years. But none of them 



INTRODUCTORY 1 67 

has ever yet offered a valid reason for denying either 
the phenomena or the fluid. It is a popular belief 
among them that Braid utterly disproved the fluidic 
theory by his peculiar methods of inducing hypnosis. 
But Braid never claimed that he had done more than 
to prove that some of the phenomena of mesmerism 
could be produced without the personal contact of 
the operator v^ith his subject. ,0n the other hand, 
he acknowledged his inability to produce the higher 
phenomena of mesm.erism by his processes, and con- 
tented himself with casting aspersions upon the genu- 
ineness of such phenomena as he could not reproduce 
or understand. I refer particularly to the phenomena 
of telepathy or thought-transference, which were at 
that time being constantly produced by the methods 
of mesmerism or animal magnetism, — that is, by 
personal contact. 

In later times the opponents of the fluidic theory 
derived much comfort from the discovery of the law 
of suggestion. Following the lead of the Nancy 
school of hypnotism, they ascribed every effect to 
the suggestions necessarily embraced in making mes- 
meric passes, when they were made for avowedly 
therapeutic purposes. And in all candor it must be 
admitted that such passes, when made with avowed 
curative intent, constitute a very powerful suggestion, 
and one which might succeed independently of any 
other factor in the case. But when it is known that 
young children — too young to understand the im- 
port of any form of suggestion — and even animals, 
according to the authority of the early mesmerists, 
have been cured by mesmeric or magnetic manipu- 
lation, it will be seen that there is something in their 



1 68 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

processes that cannot be accounted for on the theory 
of suggestion, as that term is at present understood. 
In point of fact it must be admitted that the fluidic 
theory was vastly strengthened by the fact mentioned ; 
and if there was no other way to account for the 
facts, I should be slow to dogmatize against the 
fluidic theory, absurd as it appears in statement and 
in the absence of other than negative evidence to 
support it. 

It seems to me, however, that we have not far 
to look for a valid working hypothesis when we stop 
to consider what is known to science of the charac- 
ter of the mechanism through which the subjective 
mind operates to control the functions of the body. 
Let us, then, make a brief provisional examination 
of that mechanism, reserving our proofs of each 
proposition for subsequent chapters. 

We may start with a universal postulate, which 
requires no proofs, and which will not be disputed, 
namely, — 

1. The force or energy which controls the bodily 
functions from within is a mental energy. 

This proposition, obviously true as it is, seems to 
have been overlooked by those who deny the power of 
mind over the body in health and disease. It em.- 
braces, in fact, the very gist and essence of mental 
medicine; for the initial impulse which stimulates 
and controls the functions of each and every cell of 
the body is necessarily a mental impulse proceeding 
from a central intelligence. 

2. This central intelligence necessarily operates, 
through appropriate mechanism, upon the subordi- 
nate intelligences. 



INTRODUCTORY 1 69 

3. The subordinate intelligences are the cells of 
which the whole body is composed, each of which is 
an intelligent entity, endowed with powers commen- 
surate with its functions. 

4. The means of communicating intelligence both 
to and from the central, controlling mental organism 
are the nerves, which are composed of highly differen- 
tiated cells whose intelligence, like that of every other 
group of cells, is especially adapted to the functions 
which they perform. 

5. The nerves of each organ of the body have 
peripheral termini, — one in the back near the spinal 
column, and the other in front, (approximately) near 
the location of the organ. 

6. The nerve terminals in the cuticle are composed 
of still more highly differentiated cells w^hich are 
especially adapted to the performance of two func- 
tions, — namely, experiencing the sensations of pain 
or of pleasure, and (especially those in the tips of 
the fingers) of communicating with, or taking cog- 
nizance of, things extraneous to the bodily organ- 
ism (sense of touch). These are the most highly 
differentiated cells in the whole periphery of the 
body. 

Thus far the crassest materialism will not venture 
a denial of my propositions; for they embrace the 
facts which science has discovered and promulgated 
in standard works, without reference to their bearing 
upon the question which we are now discussing. Nor 
wall any scientist deny that the central intelligence 
which controls the bodily functions, by w^hatever 
name it may be designated, is amply provided with 
facilities for exercising its powers; that is to say, 



I/O THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

it is in possession of the mechanism through which 
it can convey to every cell in the body the necessary 
mental stimulus to regulate its functions. Nor will 
any educated physician doubt or deny the proposition 
that this central intelligence is susceptible of control 
by the power of suggestion. 

But that question is apart from my present purpose, 
having been already discussed at some length. What 
I now wish to inquire is, What light does the exami- 
nation of the bodily mechanism throw upon the ques- 
tion of so-called magnetic or mesmeric cures, or, what 
may be generically known as curing by " the laying 
on of hands," — the oldest, the most generally prac- 
tised, and withal the most effective of all the an- 
cient systems of mental medicine ? Is it a ** fluid 
emanation'' from the healer — fluid health, fluid 
vitality — segregated from a reservoir of fluid health 
existing in the healer and impinging upon and 
flowing into the patient? Or is it a mental thera- 
peutic impulse conveyed from the subjective mind 
of the healer to the affected cells of the patient, by 
means of cellular rapport established by personal 
contact, through the mechanism which we have been 
describing ? 

I have no hesitation in declaring my firm con- 
viction that the latter is the true explanation of all 
the marvellous phenomena which, in all the ages, 
have followed the laying on of hands for thera- 
peutic purposes. Considered merely as a working 
hypothesis, it embraces all the essentials of validity, 
for it accounts for all the facts, — which is more 
than can be said of any fluidic or magnetic theory, 
from that of Mesmer down to the vague speculations 



INTRODUCTORY I /I 

of the humblest of his followers. Moreover, it does 
not seek to explain the unknown by reference to 
a hypothetical something still more unknown. On 
the contrary, it correlates the known facts of 
physiological science which are pertinent to the 
question, with the known psychological facts bear- 
ing upon the case, as I shall attempt to show more 
clearly when I come to discuss the subject in greater 
detail. 

In the meantime I hasten to say that the acceptance 
of this hypothesis does not necessitate a revision of 
the fundamental law of mental medicine as stated in 
the first part of this book. It merely reveals the 
existence and potency of a hitherto unknown or mis- 
understood form of suggestion. I have ventured to 
designate it as Hisfionic ^ Suggestion, for the obvious 
reason that it is conveyed through the cellular tissues 
of both healer and patient. It is, of course, a mental 
impulse, rapport being established by digital contact, 
— otherwise ''the laying on of hands," — the periph- 
eral cells of the two thus impinging and forming a 
continuous chain through which a mental therapeutic 
impulse can be conveyed. The intelligent reader will 
at once correlate this with the well-known facts of 
thought-transference by means of personal contact, 
which is sometimes called " muscle-reading," to dis- 

1 " Histionic " is a word not found in any English dictionary with 
which I am acquainted. It is employed by Professor Haeckel in his 
" Riddle of the Universe '' in connection with ^' histology ; '* and partly 
to avoid coining a word, and partly for the sake of euphony, I have 
adopted it. Derived from the same Greek root as " histology," the 
science of organic tissues, it appropriately designates a form of sugges- 
tion that is conveyed by a mental impulse through the cell intelligences 
of which the body is composed. 



172 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

tinguish it from ^^ telepathy," which is mind -reading 
at a distance. 

It will thus be seen that the same physiological 
mechanism that is employed by the subjective mind 
to convey a mental therapeutic impulse to a diseased 
organ from within may be employed by another sub- 
jective mind from without for the same purpose. The 
mechanism is there, — the telegraphic line is open, 
its terminals are available because they extend to the 
periphery, and pain proclaims, in unmistakable lan- 
guage, the point where the outside connection is to be 
made. It is as simple and obvious as the connect- 
ing of two telegraphic instruments by joining their 
wires. The instruments, being identical in construc- 
tion, vibrate in harmony the moment the connection 
is established, and intelligence may be conveyed from 
one to the other. The essential condition is that the 
wires must be joined. And so it is with the human 
instrumentalities. They are identical in structure in 
all essential particulars. Each individual is possessed 
of the mechanism for communicating intelligence; 
and the condition essential to comimunication with 
each other is that their '' wares '' shall be connected. 
The wires of the human instruments are the nerves; 
the connection is made by bringing the nerve termi- 
nals into contact, and this is done by the laying on 
of hands. 

To realize that this is unqualifiedly true, it is only 
necessary to recall the well-known fact that personal 
contact renders experimental thought-transference 
comparatively easy. The Society for Psychical Re- 
search has demonstrated this fact over and over again. 
Moreover, the therapeutic value of this method can 



INTRODUCTORY 173 

be appreciated only when it is known that it is vastly- 
easier to convey a therapeutic impulse by means of 
personal contact than it is to transfer a thought or 
a message; for the latter can be made available only 
after it has been elevated above the threshold of 
normal consciousness. It requires a good deal of 
psychic power to enable one to convey a telepathic 
message to another in such a way as to be understood, 
even with the aid of personal contact; whereas al- 
most any one can, with that aid, convey an effective 
therapeutic impulse or histionic suggestion. The 
reason is that a telepathic message that conveys 
specific information to another must be translated, so 
to speak, into terms of objective experience; whereas 
a therapeutic impulse or histionic suggestion is ex- 
pressed in the language of the soul, and it requires 
no translation to enable another soul to understand 
it. Hence it is that young children are susceptible 
to its influence to a very remarkable degree. Every 
sympathetic mother instinctively employs it to soothe 
the pains of her ailing infant, — ignorantly, it is 
true, but often with marvellous therapeutic potency. 
Every one recalls, with reverent gratitude, the sooth- 
ing influence of the mother's sympathetic touch 
** when pain and anguish wring the brow." It fol- 
lows that if this method of healing can be reduced 
to a science, so that it can be intelligently applied to 
old and young alike, by any one possessed of common 
intelligence, the best of nature's remedies will stand 
revealed. 

It is my purpose in the ensuing chapters of this 
book to suggest a line of study and practice which, 
it is hoped, may result in discoveries that will invest 



174 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

so-called *^ magnetism " with its true scientific value. 
It may be recalled, by those familiar with my first 
work/ that I expressed a doubt of the correctness 
of the magnetic or fluidic theory, but expressed a 
preference for its methods when employed as a thera- 
peutic agent. I was not then so well prepared with 
reasons for my belief as I am now, having since 
devoted nearly a decade, practically, to the study of 
the subject. The result is a practical confirmation of 
the views then outlined. The variations, if any are 
to be found, are in the details, and are the result of 
the correlation of the facts of physiology with those 
of psychology. I shall at least be able to show that 
the magnetic or fluidic theory is unnecessary ; and it 
is an axiom of science that an unnecessary hypothesis 
is necessarily wrong. ; ^ r; 

If I succeed in this, another desirable result will 
have been accomplished ; namely, the correlation of all 
the facts of mental therapeutics, showing that they all 
range themselves under the one supreme law of mental 
medicine, — Duality and Suggestion. Hitherto the 
adherents of the magnetic hypothesis have held that 
their system constituted an exception to the rule that 
suggestion is the prime factor in the production of 
therapeutic results. If this were true, it would show 
that neither hypothesis was correct, for nature's laws 
admit of no exceptions. One exception disproves a 
hypothesis with just as much scientific certainty as a 
thousand. 

Again, if my hypothesis is correct, it must neces- 
sarily lead to a better understanding of the practical 

1 See " The Law of Psychic Phenomena," chaps, viii. and ix., " Hyp- 
notism and Mesmerism/* 



INTRODUCTORY 1/5 

methods of rendering the knowledge thus gained 
available for the uses of mankind. A knowledge of 
the structure of a machine is always necessary to 
enable an engineer to run it, and to keep it in repair 
and in continuous operation, with the least expendi- 
ture of time and energy. Without that knowledge 
one may succeed for a time in running a machine, but 
when it gets out of order he is at a loss to know the 
cause; and in his attempts to repair it he generally 
does more damage than good, to say nothing of his 
waste of time and misdirected energy. 

The world is full of illustrative examples of this 
kind of engineering in the practice of mental thera- 
peutics. Without the slightest knowledge of the 
fundamental principles of mental medicine, healers 
sometimes succeed in hitting the right spot in the 
machine to set it in motion, just as a small boy 
might accidentally open the throttle of a locomotive 
engine and set it in motion ; the result in either case, 
good or bad, depending, not upon knowledge of the 
machine, but certainly upon '' circumstances beyond 
their control." 

To a certain extent magnetic healers are also 
handicapped, not by that crass and dismal ignorance 
which is the inseparable concomitant of superstition, 
but by their strenuous adherence to a hypothesis that 
is often misleading, and hence necessarily unsound. 
Nor is it because their methods of mechanical ma- 
nipulation are entirely wrong, but because it is often 
misdirected, thus entailing upon themselves a vast 
amount of labor that is useless to the patient. Never- 
theless, they are often successful in effecting cures 
that are little short of the miraculous; and this is 



176 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

presumptive evidence that their failures are due to 
misdirected applications of methods that are in them- 
selves substantially correct. 

It is my purpose to point out a system of practice 
by means of which greater certainty of results may 
be attained with less labor on the part of the healer. 
Based upon the undisputed psycho-physiological facts 
of science, the practice will be found to be simple to 
the last degree, and it may be successfully employed 
in the family by any one of ordinary intelligence ; for 
nature has supplied the means for an inerrant diag- 
nosis, and physiological science has long ago unwit- 
tingly revealed the exact locations where the stimuli 
are to be applied. I say *' unwittingly," for the sci- 
ences of anatomy, physiology, and histology have 
been developed independently of medical theories or 
therapeutical hypotheses. Scientists have simply told 
us what the scalpel and the microscope reveal as to 
our physical structure, and left therapeutists to draw 
their own conclusions. It follows that no system of 
therapeutics can be complete when the great body of 
knowledge thus gained is ignored. I refer more par- 
ticularly to those systems which depend upon mate- 
rial remedies, i.e., drugs and medicines; or upon 
digital manipulation or laying on of hands, other- 
wise, magnetic treatment, so called. Purely mental 
healing, or suggestive therapeutics, stands upon a 
somewhat different footing, for reasons that need 
not be here discussed. I desire to say, however, in 
this connection, that what is to follow in this book 
must not be construed as militating in the slightest 
degree against what has been said of the law of sug- 
gestion, or the potency of suggestion as a therapeutic 



INTRODUCTORY 1/7 

agency. Suggestion pla3^s its subtle role, for good or 
ill, in all systems of healing. It is a constant force or 
energy, which, like gravity, may be directed, but not 
evaded, — utilized, but not with impunity ignored. 

There is, however, necessarily a vast difference in 
the therapeutic value of the different forms of sug- 
gestion, the effectiveness of each depending upon the 
mental condition which it induces in the patient. 
Hence it is that a form of suggestion that is effec- 
tive in one case will utterly fail in another. It fol- 
low^s that the skill of the practitioner consists largely 
in his ability to adapt his suggestions to the exigen- 
cies of each particular case, — that is, to the mental 
status of each patient. Hence it is that in many cases 
under present practice hypnotism is resorted to in 
order to enable the operator to command the neces- 
sary mental conditions by shutting out all adverse 
objective influences or auto-suggestions. 

I shall have no difficulty in showing that histionic 
suggestion combines all that is valuable in all other 
forms of suggestion; and, moreover, that it renders 
hypnotism unnecessary in any case. Not that the 
element of faith can be dispensed with in this pro- 
cess, but that it can be inspired with a certainty of 
results unattainable by any other process, and in 
defiance of adverse aiitO'Siiggestions, or any other 
adverse influence zvhatsoever. 

The intelligent student of mental medicine will 
at once recognize this as the great desideratum in 
psycho-therapeutics; for all systems heretofore de- 
vised have been handicapped by the ever-present dif- 
ficulty of securing the necessary mental conditions 
in the patient. 

12 



178 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

In a word, I shall attempt to show that the oldest, 
most effective, and, among primitive peoples, the 
most universally practised system of mental healing 
that history mentions, can be reduced to a science 
and practised intelligently; for it is founded upon 
a law of nature that is as universal and as beneficent 
as the love of God for his children. 



CHAPTER II 

THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH 
MENTAL HEALING IS EFFECTED 

Evidence for a Duplex Mechanism corresponding to Dual Mental Or- 
ganism furnished by Anatomy and Histology. — Historical Sketch 
of the Science of Histology. — Cells and Cytods. — Unicellular and 
Pluricellular Organisms. — The Various Species of Body-Cells and 
their Functions. — The Body a Confederation of Groups of Cells. — 
Every Body-Cell a Mind Organism endowed with Intelligence Com- 
mensurate with its Function. — The Confederated Cells dominated 
by a Central Intelligence. — The Influence exercised by the Con- 
trolling Intelligence a Mental One. 

THUS far in the history of the scientific inves- 
tigation of mental therapeutics attention has 
been directed almost exclusively to the psychological 
aspects of the question. This w^as natural, for the 
simple reason that mental healing, as its name im- 
plies, is primarily a psychological phenomenon, and 
success in mental healing necessarily depends upon 
mental conditions. This being recognized, it v^as 
inevitable that the attention of scientists should first 
be directed to an inquiry as to the practical methods 
of inducing those conditions ; and that was naturally 
thought to be a purely psychological problem. Be- 
sides, the light v^hich the new psychology has shed 
upon that problem is so brilliant, and so satisfac- 
tory in its practical application to the subject-matter, 



180 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

that for the time being all other questions have been 
ignored as subsidiary, if not unimportant. 

The fact remains that there are some very impor- 
tant questions relating to mental therapeutics that 
have not yet been adequately considered, — questions 
that reach the very heart of the subject-matter, both 
as to evidential importance and its practical value in 
the treatment of disease. 

It is true that mental healing belongs primarily to 
the domain of psychology, and that without a clear 
understanding of the fundamental facts of man's 
psychological make-up mental medicine would still 
be and remain in the dismal realms of fable and 
superstition. But it is also true that the mental 
power which heals resides within the physical or- 
ganism which is healed. It follows that if it is true 
that the bodily functions and conditions are thus 
controlled, there must exist some evidence of the 
fact in the bodily structure itself. That is to say, 
if the mind controls the body, it must do so by 
means of appropriate mechanism; and, in the ab- 
sence of such mechanism, science would be com- 
pelled to reject all other evidence of mental control 
of bodily functions. On the other hand, if it can 
be shown that such mechanism exists, that it is co- 
extensive with the physical organism, and that it is 
obviously adapted to the uses of conveying intelli- 
gence from one part of the body to another, the 
evidence will be complete that the mind controls the 
bodily functions. Then, if it is found that there 
exists a duplex mechanism the functions, powers, 
and limitations of which correspond to what is 
known of those of the dual mental organism, it 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM l8l 

will constitute indubitable evidence of the scientific 
validity of our hypothesis of mental duality, and pre- 
sumptive evidence of the soundness of the theory of 
mental medicine which we have outlined in Part I. 

Fortunately, we have not far to look for abundant 
demonstrative proofs of the existence of mechanism 
especially adapted to the uses named. We have but 
to turn to any of the standard works on anatomy 
and histology, — sciences which investigate, respec- 
tively, the naked eye and the microscopic structure 
of the healthy body. And I desire to say, at the 
outset, that, in dealing with this branch of the sub- 
ject before us, I shall not travel outside of the recog- 
nized paths of science as they have been outHned in 
the works of standard authorities. It is to histology, 
or microscopic anatomy, that we must look for the 
mechanism through which the mind controls the 
bodily functions in health and disease. 

Histology, as it is now universally accepted, is a 
comparatively new science ; that is to say, it is based 
upon facts of comparatively recent discovery. Like 
all other sciences, however, it is the product of evo- 
lutionary developm^ent. It may be said to have had 
its origin in the seventeenth century through the 
discovery by Hooke, Malpighi, and Grew. These 
scientists, making observations with the simple and 
imperfect microscopes of their day, saw in plants 
small compartment-like spaces, each surrounded by a 
distinct wall and filled with air or a liquid. To these 
the name cell was applied. During the latter part 
of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century these 
earlier observations were confirmed, and extended in 
various directions. No substantial advance was made, 



1 82 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

however, until Robert Brown (1831) discovered a 
small body in the cell which is now known as the 
nucleus. Five years later, Valentin observed in the 
nucleus a small body now known as the nucleolus. 
Schleidin, in 1838, adduced proofs to show that 
plants were wholly made up of cells, and attached 
special importance to the nuclei of cells. The next 
discovery was by Schwann, in 1839. It was he who 
originated the theory that the animal body was built 
up of cells, resembling those described for plants; 
and he defined a cell as a small vesicle, surrounded 
by a firm membrane inclosing a fluid in which floats 
a nucleus. This conception of the structure of the 
cell was destined, however, to undergo important 
modification. In 1846 Von Mohl recognized in the 
cell a semi-fluid, granular substance which he named 
protoplasm; other investigators observed animal cells 
that were devoid of a distinct cell membrane; and 
Max Schultze, in 1861, attacked vigorously the older 
conception of the structure of cells, proclaiming the 
identity of the protoplasm in all forms of life, both 
plant and animal, and defining the cell as " a nucle- 
ated mass of protoplasm endowed with the attributes 
of life.'' In this sense the term cell is now gen- 
erally used.^ The definition of a cell has been still 
further modified by the discovery that a nucleus is 
not essential, for none exists in the cryptogamia and 
in some of the lowest animal forms. In these ex- 
ceptional cases the cell consists of a simple mass of 
protoplasm.^ 

Haeckel, however, does not recognize the lowest 

1 Bohm-Davidoff, Text-book of Histology. 

2 Green, Pathology and Morbid Anatomy. 



THE^ PHYSICAL MECHANISM 1 83 

forms of animals by the term cells ; '' for cells by 
no means represent the lowest grade of organic 
individuality, as that is usually understood/' The 
cytods, for example, are ^' living, independent exist- 
ences v^hich consist merely of an atom of plasson, 
— in other words, of an entirely homogeneous atom 
of albuminous substance, which is not yet differen- 
tiated into nucleus and protoplasm, but exercises the 
properties of both united. For example, the remark- 
able monera are cytods of this kind. Strictly speak- 
ing, we should say, the elementary organism, or the 
individual of the first order, occurs in two different 
grades. The first and lowest is the cytod, which 
consists of an atom of simple plasson. The second 
and higher grade is the cell, which has been differen- 
tiated into nucleus and protoplasm." ^ 

This, however, is a question of terminology which, 
for present purposes, is unimportant. The fact re- 
mains, as Haeckel proceeds to say, that ^^ both grades, 
cytods and cells, are grouped together under the idea 
of sculptors or builders, because they alone in reality 
build the organism." That is to say, every living 
physical organism in this world is built up of cytods 
and cells; and this is the first salient fact which I 
desire the reader to bear in mind. 

Before proceeding to discuss this matter in detail, 
however, I desire to remind the reader that all liv- 
ing animal organisms are divisible, broadly, into two 
classes, — namely, unicellular organisms and pluri- 
cellular organisms. The former, as the term in- 
dicates, are one-celled creatures, and represent the 
lowest forms of animal life, — the beginning of ani- 

1 Haeckel, The Evolution of Man, vol. i. p. 130. 



1 84 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

mal life on this planet, the earliest of man's earthly 
ancestors, the primordial germs from which all liv- 
ing creatures on this planet have been developed 
through the processes of organic evolution. The 
latter are simply aggregations or associations of the 
former; that is to say, pluricellular organisms are 
merely confederated associations of unicellular crea- 
tures, — a later development from unicellular life. 

The unicellular organism was, and still is, the 
true terrestrial type of life; for it displays all the 
functions, in miniature, exhibited by pluricellular 
creatures, namely, feeling, motion, nutrition, and 
reproduction, the sum of which constitutes the idea 
of life. '' All these properties which the multicellu- 
lar, highly developed animal possesses, appear in 
each cell, at least in its youth. There is no longer 
any doubt about this fact, and v/e may therefore re- 
gard it as the basis of our physiological idea of the 
elementary organism '' (Haeckel). In other words, 
there is but one type of life on the surface of our 
planet, and that is the unicellular; and this type is 
preserved in all the forms of life. The unicellular 
organisms are termed " protozoans." Pluricellular 
organisms are termed '' metazoans." 

It would be highly interesting to follow the phylo- 
genetic development of the cell from the moneron to 
man; but that is outside the purpose of this book. 
It must suffice to say that the metazoans were at first 
simple aggregations of the protozoans ; and the fact 
of aggregation does not seem to have modified the 
separate unicellular lives, for each retains its com- 
plete autonomy, performing all the functions of a 
separate life. Change of conditions, or mutations 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 1 85 

of environment, however, led to more permanent 
grouping, and compelled modification and differen- 
tiation of functions, until at length it became impos- 
sible to dissolve the bond by which the unicellular 
lives were united. Thus the way was opened for 
further differentiation of functions, and thencefor- 
V ward organic evolution proceeded on those lines. 
That is to say, the moment that an aggregation of 
cells became a confederation, with its differentiation 
of cell functions and consequent division of labor, 
every further step in advance consisted in increased 
differentiation of cell functions and still further divi- 
sion of labor. As a result of a long process of such 
differentiation, the organisms of the larger animals 
and of man came to be composed, as we find them, 
of thirty or more different species of cells.^ For 
example, we have the muscle cells, whose vital ener- 
gies are devoted to the office of contraction, or vigor- 
ous shortening of length; connective tissue cells, 
whose office is mainly to produce and conserve a 
tough fibre for binding together and covering in the 
organism; bone cells, whose life work it is to select 
and collocate salts of lime for the organic frame- 
work, levers, and joints ; hair, nail, horn, and feather 
cells, which work in silicates for the protection, de- 
fence, and ornamentation of the organism; gland 
cells, whose motif in living has come to be the 
abstraction from the blood of substances which 
are recombined to produce juices needed to aid the 
various processes or steps of digestion; blood cells, 
which have assumed the laborious function of gen- 
eral carriers, scavengers, and repairers of the organ- 

1 Stephens, Pluricellular Man. 



1 86 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

ism; eye, ear, nasal, and palate cells, which have 
become the special artificers of complicated apparatus 
for transmitting light, sound, odors, and flavors to 
the highly sentient brain cells ; pulmonary cells, which 
elaborate a tissue for the introduction of oxygen and 
the elimination of carbon dioxide and other waste 
products; hepatic (liver) cells, which have, in re- 
sponse to the needs of the organism, descended to 
the menial office of living on the waste products and 
converting them into chemical reagents to facilitate 
digestion, — these and numerous other species of 
cells; and lastly, most important and of greatest 
interest, brain and nerve cells.^ These cells are of 
the greatest interest and importance, for the obvious 
reason that they are the most highly differentiated 
of all the cells of the body, and constitute, respec- 
tively, the organ of objective intelligence and the 
means of communicating information from one part 
of the body to another. 

Without going further into details for the pres- 
ent, it must suffice to say that each organ of the body 
is composed of a group of cells which are differen- 
tiated with special reference to the functions to be 
performed by that organ. In other words, every 
function of life is performed by groups of co-oper- 
ating cells, so that the body as a whole is simply a 
confederation of the various groups. And, to the 
end that the body may act as a unit, these groups 
are connected, each to all the others, by lines of 
intercommunication, which, in turn, are composed 
of other highly differentiated and specialized cells, 
namely, brain and nerve cells. Not only are the 

1 Op. cit. 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 1 8/ 

various groups thus connected by lines of intercom- 
munication, but these lines reach, directly or indi- 
rectly, every individual cell in the whole organism. 
This is elementary; for everybody knows that when 
any part of the organism is assailed, information of 
the fact is instantly conveyed through the nerves to 
the " central office,'' so to speak, and there measures 
for protecting the part are as instantaneously devised 
and the appropriate commands issued. Thus, if one 
of the extremities is pricked with a needle's point, ^ 
the cell thus assailed instantaneously conveys infor- L ?* 
mation of the assault through the nerves to the brain, \ 
which, in turn, issues its edict, through the appro- yV, 
priate nerve cells, to all the muscle and other cells ') \^ 



surrounding the injured cell, commanding them to . ^v 
unite their forces and remove the part assailed from i ^ 
the point of danger. This sounds like an elaborate \ \ 
process, requiring considerable time to effect it ; but ^^ v 
it is just what actually happens when one's great toe V -i^ 
is pricked and he jerks it away. It is called " reac- N.^ 
tion," and in a sense it is ; but the remedy applied is \\ 
the result of a series of mental processes, beginning 
with the message sent to the brain by the injured cell, 
and ending by the application of the united forces of 
the muscle cells to the removal of the injured cell 
from the point of danger. The time required is 
inappreciable to the unaided senses; but it does, 
nevertheless, require a measurable interval of time 
to initiate and complete the process, as scientists 
have amply demonstrated by means of instruments 
of precision. It is, therefore, a process, involving 
in its every step the exercise of intelligence and the 
employment of mechanism. 



1 88 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

It follows, a priori, that every cell in the body is 
endowed with intelligence ; and this is precisely what 
all biological science tells us is true. Beginning with 
the lowest form of animal life, the humblest cytod, 
every living cell is endowed with a wonderful in- 
telligence. There is, in fact, no line to be drawn 
between life and mind; that is to say, every living 
organism is a mind organism, from the monera, 
crawling upon the bed of the ocean, to the most 
highly differentiated cell in the cerebral cortex of 
man. Volumes have been written to demonstrate 
that " psychological phenomena begin among the 
very lowest class of beings; they are met with in 
every form of life, from the simplest cellule to the 
most complicated organism. It is they that are the 
essential phenomena of life, inherent in all proto- 
plasm." ^ It is, in fact, an axiom of science that 
the lowest unicellular organism is endowed with the 
potentialities of manhood. 

I have remarked that each living cell is endowed 
with a wonderful intelligence. This is emphatically 
true, whether it is a unicellular organism or a con- 
stituent element of a multicellular organism. Its 
wonderful character consists, not so much in the 
amount of intelligence possessed by each individual 
cell, as it does in the quality of that intelligence. 
That is to say, each cell is endowed with an instinc- 
tive, or intuitive, knowledge of all that is essential 
to the preservation of its own life, the conservation of 
its energies, and the perpetuation of its species. In 
other words, it is endowed with an intuitive knowl- 
edge of the laws of its own being, which knowl- 

1 Binet, The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms. 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 1 89 

edge is proportioned to its stage of development and 
adapted to its environment. Thus, the unicellular 
organism is endowed, antecedently to and indepen- 
dently of reason, experience, or instruction, with a 
knowledge of the ways and means of obtaining 
nourishment. A mass of unorganized protoplasm, 
it projects portions of itself (pseudopodia), and 
thus performs the act of locomotion in search of 
food. When food is found, it is enveloped in the 
mass of protoplasm, digested, and assimilated. It 
has the power of choice, for it rejects that which is 
unwholesome, retaining only that which is nourish- 
ing. It has memory, as is shown by the fact that, 
having once encountered danger, it will afterwards 
avoid it when presented under similar circumstances 
(Moebius), or, having found food in one locality, it 
will afterwards seek it in the same direction (Gates). 
In fact, memory is one of the most elementary of 
psychological facts (Binet). It is susceptible to the 
emotions of surprise and fear, as is clearly shown by 
Binet' s experiments with Infusoria. It has feeling, 
for it reacts to peripheral stimuli (Haeckel). It 
adapts means to ends, near and remote, as is shown 
by Verworn's ^ experiments with the Difflugia. And, 
finally, it reproduces itself by fission or segmentation. 
Binet, in his preface to the American edition of 
his great work on "^ The Psychic Life of Micro- 
organisms,'' concludes a summary of the psycho- 
logical properties of the lower orders of unicellular 
organisms in the words following: ''We shall not re- 
gard it as strange, perhaps, to find so complete a 
psychology in the history of the lower organisms, 

1 Quoted by Binet. 



190 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

when we call to mind that, agreeably to the ideas of 
evolution now accepted, a higher animal is nothing 
more than a colony of protozoans. Every one of 
the cells composing such an animal has retained its 
primitive properties, giving them a higher degree of 
perfection by division of labor and by selection. The 
epithelial cells that secrete the nails and the hair are 
organisms perfected with reference to the secretion 
of protective parts. Similarly, the cells of the brain 
are organisms that have been perfected with refer- 
ence to psychical attributes.'' 

The salient point to be observed here is that, so 
far as the physical sciences reveal the structure of 
man, he is composed wholly of confederated cells, 
each one of which has been developed and perfected 
with special reference to its place in the organism 
and the function assigned to it. Nor must it be 
forgotten that each individual cell is a mind organ- 
ism, and that it is endowed with an intelligence com- 
mensurate with the duties it has to perform. Now, 
the one specific duty which each cell has to perform, 
under normal conditions, is to do its part toward the 
preservation of the life, health, and well-being of the 
confederated organism. Under normal conditions, 
that is, when no disturbing influences are at work, 
this task is performed easily and without friction; 
that is to say, in the absence of disease or traumatic 
disturbances, each cell is in perfect health and auto- 
matically performs its specific function without dis- 
turbing its neighbors. 

But it has other duties to perform in which its 
intelligence is more pronouncedly in evidence. In 
case of disease or accident it is charged with the 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 191 

duty of repairing the organism and restoring normal 
conditions; and this it does with an intelligence and 
energy that savors of creative power. No one needs 
to be told with what promptitude and energy and 
intelligence nature sets to work to heal a wound or 
unite a fractured bone, under favoring conditions, 
mental and physical. No surgeon pretends to be 
able to do more than establish those conditions, and 
let nature do the rest; and every intelligent sur- 
geon or physician will tell us that nature does its 
work of healing through the co-operative efforts of 
millions of intelligent entities, known to science as 
cells. 

Nor will any intelligent physician or surgeon or 
biologist gainsay the proposition that these mind 
organisms are governed, controlled, and directed in 
their work by a central intelligence resident within 
the organism. Scientists may differ as to the proper 
terminology by which the central intelligence should 
be designated; but no one denies its existence, or 
its power to control its millions of subordinates. 
Thus, it has been called the '^ subconscious mind," 
the " unconscious mind,'' the ^' secondary self," the 
" subliminal consciousness," the '' communal soul," 
the *' secondary personality," etc., the various terms 
employed being governed largely by the point of view 
from which the subject is treated. I have designated 
it as the " subjective mind," for reasons which have 
already been set forth. Philosophers may differ in 
opinion as to its origin and its ultimate destiny ; and 
biologists may not be agreed as to just what it is, 
— that is to say, whether it is the sum of all the in- 
telligences of which the body is composed, or whether 



192 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

it is an independent entity capable of surviving the 
dissolution of the confederacy which it controls. 

None of these questions, however, are at issue in 
this discussion; for the one salient fact upon which 
all who are acquainted with the propaedeutics of 
experimental psychology are agreed, is that it exists, 
that it is an intelligence, and that it controls the 
functions of the confederated cells of the physical 
organisms of all sentient creatures. Even Haeckel, 
the great materialist, who apparently knows nothing 
of the new psychology, in discussing the third stage 
of phyletic psychogenesis, has this to say of what he 
calls the ** tissue soul " : " This ' tissue soul ' is the 
higher psychological function which gives physio- 
logical individuality to the compound multicellular 
organism as a true ' cell commonwealth.' It con- 
trols all the separate ' cell souls ' of the social cells 
— the mutually dependent ' citizens ' which consti- 
tute the community.'' ^ This he holds to be true 
alike of plants and animals. 

It is, however, a work of supererogation to dwell 
upon the obvious fact that a confederation of intelli- 
gences, organized for a specific purpose, must act in 
subordination to some central power or authority. 
Such a power is as much a biological necessity as an 
executive officer is a political necessity to a state or 
nation. In point of fact, the cell commonwealth is 
more nearly analogous to an irresponsible despotism 
than to any other form of human government; for 
the central power not only controls the organism as 
a unit, but it controls each group of cells (organ) 
and each individual cell in the whole organism. This 

1 Riddle of the Universe, p. 157. 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 1 93 

is also a biological necessity, for there can be no 
legislative authority to share the power or the re- 
sponsibility. That it is true is evidenced by the fact 
that the central power is in possession of the means 
of reaching not only each group of cells, but each 
individual cell in the whole organism. This subject, 
however, will be discussed when we come to point out 
the mechanism by which this is rendered possible. 

In the meantime I submit that I have already 
shown that the physical organism is especially adapted 
to the reception of mental influences ; for each particu- 
lar part of it is a mind organism, every function of 
which is controlled by an organized intelligence. The 
influence exercised by the controlling intelligence is, 
therefore, a mental influence, pure and simple; for, 
in the nature of things, it can be no other. 



13 



CHAPTER III 

THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH 
MENTAL HEALING IS EFFECTED {Continued) 

The Cerebro-Spinal and the Sympathetic Nervous Systems. — The 
Former controls the Voluntary Movements and is dominated by 
the Objective Mind. — The Latter controls the Involuntary Move- 
ments and is dominated by the Subjective Mind. — The Subjective 
Mind can usurp the Functions of the Cerebro-Spinal System. — 
The Objective Mind powerless to control directly a purely Involun- 
tary Muscle. — A Nexus between the two Nervous Systems corre- 
sponding to that between the two Minds. — The Nerve Connections 
between the two Systems enable the Objective Mind to communi- 
cate its Therapeutic Suggestions to the Subjective. — The Pseudo- 
podia of Unicellular Organisms. — Protoplasmic Filaments the 
Means of Communication between Body-Cells. — This is effected 
by Physical Contact. — The Nerve and Brain Cells highly special- 
ized for this Purpose. — Being Mind Organisms, the Energy in- 
volved in the Transmission of Sensation is a Mental One. 

NO one needs to be told that the nerves are the 
lines of communication through which the 
mind receives intelligence from, and issues its man- 
dates to, every part of the body ; but the special adap- 
tation of the means to the ends is not so generally 
understood. 

It is not my purpose to inflict upon the reader a 
lengthy dissertation on the subject of the nervous 
system of man, but to outline a few of the salient facts 
which bear upon the subject of mental medicine. 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 195 

Before proceeding, however, to describe the struc- 
ture of the nerves with reference to their functional 
activities as carriers of intelligence and therapeutic 
impulses, I desire to say one word in reference to 
the structure of the nervous system with reference 
to the theory of mental duality. Postulating a duplex 
mental organism, such as experimental psychology 
reveals, we have a logical right, a priori, to expect 
to find confirmatory evidence of the fact in a corre- 
sponding nervous organism. Accordingly we find 
that man is endowed with two nervous systems, — 
namely, the cerebro-spinal nervous system and the 
sympathetic nervous system. If, now, we find that 
the two nervous systems correspond in function to 
the known powers and limitations of the two minds, 
it will constitute conclusive proof of the correctness 
of the theory of mental duality. 

Beginning, then, with the cerebro-spinal system, 
we know that, as its name indicates, it is presided 
over by the brain, the organ of the objective mind, 
and that it controls the voluntary movements of the 
body. On the other hand, the sympathetic system 
presides over all involuntary movements, such as 
nutrition, secretion, vaso-motor action, reproduction, 
etc. Its centre of functional activity is the solar 
plexis, sometimes called the " abdominal brain." ^ 
In using this term, says Dr. Robinson, " I mean to 
convey the idea that it is endowed with the high 
powers and phenomena of a great nervous centre; 
that it can organize, multiply, and diminish forces." ^ 

1 See Robinson on " The Abdominal Brain and Automatic Visceral 
Ganglia." 

2 Op. cit, p. 29. 



196 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

I assume, of course, that the mental organism 
' which presides over the sympathetic nervous system 
and organizes and controls its forces, is the subjec- 
tive mind, although the dominion of that mental or- 
ganism is by no means limited to the visible domain 
of that congeries of nerve ganglia known to empiri- 
cal anatomy as the sympathetic nervous system. It 
necessarily presides over all the silent forces or in- 
voluntary activities of the whole physical organism; 
otherwise the latter could not act as a unit. " Be- 
sides, the facts of psychology teach us that the sub- 
jective mind can under certain conditions, not yet 
very clearly defined, invade the domain and usurp 
the functions of the cerebro-spinal system. This 
may be brought about experimentally, as in hypno- 
tism, or trance, induced or spontaneous; or it may 
occur in response to necessity, as when the body is 
in imminent and deadly peril.^ In such an emer- 
gency the objective mind functions too slowly, and 
the nerve responses are correspondingly sluggish; 
and hence the subjective mind, ever alert for the pro- 
tection of the body, instantaneously inhibits all brain 
mentation, seizes upon its mechanism of motion, and 
waelds it with inconceivable rapidity and precision, 
often snatching the body from the very jaws of death. 
The difference in the action of the two minds in such 
cases is the difference between reason and instinct 
or intuition. The one requires time for delibera- 
tion, with its accompanying doubt and hesitancy; 
the other is instantaneous in mentation and appro- 
priate action. Hypnotism, in this sense, is merely 

1 For a full discussion of this topic, see ** The Law of Psychic 
Phenomena/' 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 1 97 

a method of inducing the subjective mind to inhibit 
the action of the brain, to the end that certain of 
its functions may be usurped by the subjective mind. 
When the inhibition is accomplished, '' automatism/' 
e. g., automatic writing, etc., is rendered possible, — 
which is but another way of saying that the mental 
organism which normally presides over the sympa- 
thetic nervous system, has assumed temporary con- 
trol of the cerebro-spinal system. 

This constitutes one of the points of radical dif- 
ference between the powers and limitations of the 
two minds : the subjective mind may, and does on 
occasion, control every nerve and muscle in the 
physical organism, voluntary and involuntary; but 
the objective mind cannot directly control one purely 
involuntary muscle. 

The far-reaching significance of this one fact can- 
not be dwelt upon here; but I cannot refrain from 
remarking, en passant, that it constitutes indubitable j 
evidence that the subjective mind is the primary I 
intelligence of organic life; the corollary of which 
is that the objective mind, with its organs, is the 
product of organic evolution. I make this remark 
for the reason that some scientists have labored to 
prove that the sympathetic nervous system is a 
subordinate offshoot of the cerebro-spinal system. 
I have incidentally pointed out this fallacy else- 
where ^ in discussing the facts of organic and mental 
evolution, the sum of which demonstrates that the 
subjective mind antedated the objective, or brain in- 
telligence, by untold millions of years. That there 
is a nerve connection between the two nervous sys- 

1 See " The Divine Pedigree of Man.'* 



198 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

terns is necessarily true; that they are intimately 
correlated is well known and admitted by those who 
most strongly assert the essential independence of 
the sympathetic. Experimental psychology teaches 
us that there exists a nexus between the two minds, 
enabling them, under certain conditions, to act in 
perfect synchronism. The same reason exists for 
an intimate interrelation between the two nervous 
systems. But as the subjective mind often asserts 
its independence of the objective, so are the essential 
functions of the sympathetic ganglia independent of 
control by the cerebral centre. They may be modified 
by indirection, as by suggestion, but the essential 
vital processes go on independently of objective will 
or desire. In other words, the life forces, which are 
presided over by the subjective mind, acting through 
the sympathetic nervous system, persist independently 
of the will or volition of the objective mind acting 
through the cerebro-spinal nervous system. As be- 
fore remarked, it is only by indirection that the latter 
can modify the action of the sympathetic nervous 
organism; and this is where the law of suggestion 
presents itself as a therapeutic agent. The nerve 
connections between the two nervous systems enable 
the objective mind to communicate its therapeutic 
suggestions to the subjective mind. The latter, ever 
ready to adopt whatever measures promise to pre- 
serve health and prolong life, communicates the 
necessary therapeutic impulses, through the nerves, 
to the cell intelligences which are involved in the 
disease, stimulating them to increased activity, or 
the reverse, as occasion requires, — in a word, re- 
establishing normal metabolism in the diseased cells. 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 1 99 

In this connection it must be remarked that the 
latest, most intelHgent, and most comprehensive 
theory of disease is that a disease of the body is a 
disease of the cells of the body. The great German 
physician, Rudolf Virchow, recently deceased, has 
established this proposition beyond all peradventure.^ 
Indeed it is, obviously and necessarily, the only 
theory of disease that is all-inclusive in its terms, 
and, in fact, self-evident. Its correlative is that the 
only effective therapeutic agents are those that reach 
the diseased cells and are capable of restoring them 
to normal activity. This is necessarily true whether 
the remedies are material or mental. It follows that 
the best remedies are those which reach the diseased 
locality by the most direct route and are invested 
with the necessary therapeutic potency, that is, the 
power to stimulate the diseased cells to normal 
activity. ^^^ 

I submit that I have shown one potent therapeutic 
agent, and exhibited the mechanism through which 
it operates ; and I have shown the route over which 
its forces travel to reach the humblest cell in the 
physical organism. It is a mental power or energy; 
it transmits its mandates through lines composed of 
m_ind organisms; and the humblest beneficiaries of 
its prepotent energy are all mind organisms, — in- 
telligent entities, capable of responding to every 
impulse from the central intelligence. I have also 
shown a bodily mechanism which renders the dual 
mind hypothesis a biological as well as a psycho- 
logical necessity to any rational theory of causation. 
It remains to point out the specific structure of the 

1 Cellular Pathology. 



200 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

nerves, considered as the instruments by which thera- 
peutic impulses are transmitted and pain inhibited. 

In doing so, it will first be necessary to refer again 
to unicellular organisms. In the amoeboid forms of 
life — the ciliates, rhizopods, flagellates, and others 
— we find that the living cell, when leading an inde- 
pendent existence, has the power to throw out from 
its protoplasmic substance projections (pseudopodia) 
and filaments. The very lowest animal organisms, 
e. g., the monera, throw out pseudopodia as a means 
of locomotion, and in the more highly developed 
protozoans these projections assume a more or less 
permanent character, as cilia and flagella. It is by 
means of these projections that unicellular creatures 
take cognizance of their environment, seize their 
food, and communicate with each other. These fila- 
ments are themselves capable of feeling and moving 
in response to it, and are therefore composed of 
living matter. 

Now, this power of projecting living filaments is 
one of the salient characteristics of the histological 
cells which constitute the vital units of all multi- 
cellular animal organisms. As in unicellular life, 
they are projected and retracted in pursuance of 
some want or emotion, and constitute the means 
of communication with neighboring cells. It is, in 
fact, the only means by which a sentient tissue re- 
sults from their union. Moreover, it is by this means 
of intercommunication with each other that the mil- 
lions of cells composing the body can exist as an 
individual animal, exhibit personality, and live, move, 
and have their being as one individual entity. 

Now, as each cell in the confederation is differ- 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 201 

entiated with especial reference to its functions, it 
follows that the nerve cells are more highly special- 
ized as carriers of intelligence than any others. Hence 
we find that the filaments are more distinctly in evi- 
dence in the nerve cells than in others, in that they 
have apparently assumed a more or less permanent 
character, — that is to say, under the now generally 
accepted theory that these filaments are the sub- 
stratum of the nerve system. Be this as it may, it 
is certain that the nerve cells project these living ten- 
tacles from cell to cell, and that " in no tissue is this 
living connection so complete as in nerve tissue, and 
the gray cerebral tissue '' (Stephens). 

It is important, for more reasons than one, that we 
should here pause for a moment to consider this 
phenomenon in connection with the gray tissue of 
the cerebral cortex. No one needs to be told that 
the brain is the organ of the objective mind and the 
centre of the cerebro-spinal nervous system; or that 
the group of highly differentiated cells which con- 
stitutes the organ of intellect is located in the cortex, 
or outer surface layer or layers of the brain. The 
universally accepted theory is that the brain cells of 
the cerebral cortex constitute the storehouse of ob- 
jective memory. Every cell, therefore, corresponds 
to some experience or thought of the individual ; that 
is to say, for each new thought or experience of the 
individual, a new brain cell is developed or an old 
one modified. This theory is confirmed by the fact 
that the more highly men or the higher animals are 
cultivated intellectually, the more numerous are the 
convolutions of the brain and the deeper are the fis- 
sures, thus enlarging the cortical area and providing 



202 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

room for the constantly augmenting number of cells 
during the active or progressive life of the individual. 

Now, each one of these cells is in either actual or 
potential communication with every other cell in the 
cortex, by means of filaments of living protoplasmic 
matter akin to those already described as pertaining 
to the humbler cells of the bodily organism. They 
differ in degree of differentiation, but not in func- 
tion. That is to say, these filamentary projections 
from cell to cell constitute the means of communi- 
cating intelligence from cell to cell, whether they are 
the cells of the cerebral cortex, or the nerve cells of 
the body, or the humbler tissue or bone cells of the 
outlying frontiers of the physical organism. 

I make these remarks here for two reasons : first, 
because materialistic scientists have racked their brains 
with an energy out of all proportion to results in an 
effort to solve the problem as to how sensation is 
communicated from cell to cell along these filamen- 
tary projections, whether by chemism, wave-motion, 
electro-motive energy, or by currents of particles of 
the cells themselves; and secondly, because I wish 
to make it clear to the reader that in dealing with 
man we are dealing with an intelligent entity whose 
whole physical organism is composed of intelligent 
entities — mind organisms — each one of which is 
endowed with intelligence proportioned to its place 
and function. 

It is, therefore, superfluous to postulate any form 
of energy but mental energy, to account for the 
transmission of sensation from one cell to another. 
That is to say, it is obviously done by the trans- 
mission of intelligence from cell to cell by means of 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 203 

filaments projected from one cell until it comes in 
contact with its neighbor, — just as ants communicate 
messages to each other, and lay plans of co-operative 
action, by touching each other with their antennae. 
Indeed, as we shall see in its proper place in this 
book, the communication of intelligence by means of 
physical contact is one of the most common of psy- 
chological phenomena. In the meantime I desire the 
reader to bear in mind the fact that the communica- 
tion of intelligence by means of physical contact is 
the prime factor of sentient life; for, I repeat it, it 
is the one means of intercommunication between cell 
and cell that enables the vast congeries of sentient 
organisms to live, move, and have their being as 
one. 

Besides, it must not be forgotten that all the cells 
of the human organism are descended from a single 
cell, the human egg-cell, which, " as soon as it is 
fertilized, multiplies by division and forms a com- 
munity, or colony of many social cells. These dif- 
ferentiate themselves, and by their specialization, by 
various modifications of these cells, the various tis- 
sues which compose the various organs are developed. 
The developed many-celled organisms of man and of 
all higher animals resemble, therefore, a social, civil 
community, the numerous single individuals of which 
are, indeed, developed in various ways, but were orig- 
inally only simple cells of one common structure.'' ^ 

It will thus be seen that, according to one of the 
highest living authorities, not only is every cell in 
the body descended from a single parent cell, but 
that all were originally, that is, before differentiation 

1 Haeckel, The Evolution of Man, vol. i. p. 147. 



204 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

began, '' only simple cells of one common structure." 
It follows that the essential characteristics and powers 
remain the same in all, differing only in degree. Now, 
the essential characteristic of the cell is that it is a 
mind organism; and one of its essential powers is 
that of communicating with its fellow cells by means 
of the filaments we have described. The only ques- 
tion, therefore, is, Is the impulse thus communicated 
from cell to cell a purely mental, intelligent impulse, 
or is it some form of energy known to material 
science as '' wave-motion,'' '' chemism," or " electro- 
motive energy '' ? This question is easily settled by 
showing that the cells of one group do communicate 
intelligence to each other. If this can be shown, it 
follows that all cells having a common origin, origi- 
nally identical in structure, and possessing the same 
structural facilities for communicating intelligence, 
do the same thing in the same way. 

It is scarcely necessary to say that the brain cells 
furnish the necessary example. They have the same 
origin, and were originally of ^^ one common struc- 
ture " with all the other cells of the organism. Dif- 
ferentiation did not change their essential nature as 
mind organisms. It only modified their morphologi- 
cal structure to adapt them to the performance of the 
work assigned to them, and it endowed each with the 
intelligence requisite to the performance of its special 
work. In the distribution of assignments the brain 
cells were exalted to a position of regal supremacy 
and endowed with psychic powers commensurate 
with their station. But they are no more perfectly 
adapted to the performance of their special functions 
than are the others to theirs. Each is endowed with 



THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM 



205 



special powers, suitable and entirely adequate to the 
performance of its special duties; all are endowed 
with the instinct of self-preservation; each, in its 
own sphere of activity, is endowed with an intuitive 
knowledge of how to adapt means to ends in the 
conservation of life and in the repair of traumatic 
injuries; and all are subject to the volition of that 
central intelligence which, with never-sleeping vigi- 
lance, guards and guides the whole. 



^ CHAPTER IV 

THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 

Analgesia Induced by Hypnotism or by Suggestion. — If Sensation is 
transmitted by Means of Physical Contact of the Filaments of the 
Nerve Cells, it follows that Interruption of Contact will inhibit 
Sensation. — These Filaments are retractile. — The Subjective 
Mind, by causing their Retraction, can inhibit Sensation. — The 
Phenomenon of Analgesia in the Presence of Death or Deadly 
Peril. — Catalepsy. — The Theory of Mental Medicine compre- 
hended in the Words ^'Stimulation" and "Inhibition." — The 
Effects of Material Medicines mainly limited to these Two. — The 
Principle of Homoeopathy. — Necessity for the Correlation of Psy- 
chology and Histology in the Study of Therapeutics. 

ONE of the most wonderful of the phenomena 
with which experimental psychology has to 
deal is that of the inhibition of physical sensation or 
of pain. Everybody has witnessed it in others or 
experienced it himself, for it is also a very common 
phenomenon. It can be produced experimentally, as 
when suggestion is employed as an analgesic in sur- 
gery.^ It happens spontaneously when one's limb is 
temporarily benumbed by a severe injury. It is in 
evidence when a raging toothache suddenly ceases 
in presence of the dentist armed with his instruments 
of torture. It never fails to manifest itself when one 
is threatened with sudden death by violence, as in the 
heat of a deadly conflict. The soldier rarely knows 

1 See Appendix I. 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 207 

he is wounded so long as he is able to continue fight- 
ing. Often the first notification he has that he is 
wounded is when he falls, weakened by the loss of 
blood; and if his wound is fatal, he dies a painless 
death. 

Few have failed to experience the phenomenon in 
some form; the most common being cases of tem- 
porary numbness resulting from wounds, and the 
local anaesthesia or analgesia which almost invari- 
ably immediately precedes a surgical operation, — the 
phenomenon of the subsident toothache being typical. 
By far the most numerous class of cases, however, 
occur in the practice of mental healing, especially 
where the treatment involves the personal contact 
of the healer with the patient ; for example, in mes- 
meric methods, or the laying on of hands, or in some 
forms of hypnotic practice. It is possible, however, 
to inhibit pain by pure suggestion without personal 
contact, as has been demonstrated again and again 
under all so-called '' systems '' of practice in mental 
therapeutics. The correlation of all the facts of all 
methods has thus far given us the psychological for- 
mula which we have examined in Part I. of this book ; 
that is to say, it has taught us that the subjective 
mind is endowed with the power, when it is incited 
thereto by suggestion, to inhibit pain. This is un- 
doubtedly correct as far as it goes. But it does not 
go far enough to satisfy the demands of the present 
inquiry, — which is as to the histological mechanism 
involved in the inhibition of pain, and incidentally 
as to some cognate questions collateral to the main 
subject of inquiry. 

The intelligent student will have already antici- 



208 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

pated me when I say that we must look to the nerve 
mechanism through which sensations are transmitted 
from cell to cell, to find the means by which the same 
sensations are inhibited. Thus, we have found that 
sensations and intelligence are transmitted from one 
cell to its neighbor through filaments of living proto- 
plasmic matter projected from one cell into physical 
contact with the other ; that, in a nerve, this filamen- 
tary connection is made from cell to cell throughout 
its whole length. It is, therefore, solely by means of 
physical contact of one nerve cell with another that 
sensations are communicated through the nerves. 

It follows that if one of the cells in a line of com- 
munication should withdraw its tentacles from con- 
tact with its neighbors, the line would be broken, and 
sensation would be inhibited with just as much cer- 
tainty as if the nerve had been severed by the scalpel. 
That these filaments can be retracted is well known 
to every histologist, for they are a part of the living 
protoplasm of the cell itself. 

That each cell of the whole organism is under the 
control of the central intelligence which presides over 
the vital processes, is necessarily true. Psychology 
teaches us that this central intelligence, which we 
designate as the subjective mind, '' has control of 
the functions, sensations, and conditions of the body.'' 
Necessarily, therefore, it has control over each indi- 
vidual cell that constitutes a factor in the functional 
activities of the body; and since the nerves consti- 
tute the means of communicating intelligence and 
sensation to all the outlying cells of the organism, it 
follows that the nerve cells are under the more im- 
mediate control of the subjective mind than are the 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 209 

outlying cells. Manifestly, therefore, the subjective 
mind may, by an act of volition, cause every cell 
concerned in the transmission of sensation to retract 
its tentacles or filaments and thus temporarily isolate 
itself from all intercourse with its fellows. Obvi- 
ously, therefore, this is the method and this the 
mechanism employed in the inhibition of pain. 

Under this hypothesis much that is mysterious in 
the phenomena of inhibition may easily be accounted 
for. Thus, the general anaesthesia, or, rather, anal- 
gesia, incident to imminent and deadly peril, must 
be due to a general retraction by the cells of the fila- 
ments employed in the transmission of sensation. 
Indeed, this phenomenon and that of death may be 
correlated. The fact that death is always painless 
may be due to the same cause, the psychological 
crises in the two cases being identical. It is the in- 
evitability of death, real or apparent, that induces 
the phenomenon; and it seems to be the universal 
experience of those whose doom is sealed. Thus, 
the criminal condemned to death experiences it the 
moment when all hope of pardon or reprieve has 
been abandoned. " His faculties are benumbed,'' 
testify his attendants, he becomes ^' calm and indif- 
ferent,'' and when the supreme moment arrives, he 
marches to the scaffold without a tremor to indicate 
that he is possessed of a nervous organism. 

Closely allied to this is the local anaesthesia in- 
duced by the near approach to an inevitable surgical 
operation. This subject has already been alluded 
to, and need not be dwelt upon further than to 
remark that the imminence and inevitability of a 

great crisis seem to be the prime factors in the induc- 

14 



210 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

tion of the phenomenon. Its potential value as an 
analgesic in surgery is set forth at some length in 
Appendix I. 

There are some reasons for believing that the cells 
themselves, under great stress of emotional excite- 
ment, have the power of initiative in the matter of 
inhibiting local pain. Thus, in cases of casual 
wounds, the parts are benumbed for the time being; 
and if the wound is immediately dressed, no pain 
is experienced in the adjacent parts. Later, how- 
ever, the pain is experienced in full measure. This 
would seem to indicate that the cells adjacent to the 
injured parts, under stress of some emotional excite- 
ment, — let us say, fear or fright,^ — withdraw their 
tentacles and " retire within themselves," much as_ 
some insects do wJien death threatens. After the 
stress of emotion has had time to subside, they re- 
sume their normal activities, and pain ensues. But 
they find that thousands of their fellows have been 
slain ; and this entails unwonted duties upon the sur- 
vivors in the way of eliminating the dead protoplasm 
and generating new cells to take its place. In other 
words, the process of healing must be carried on by 
the surviving cells, facilitated, perhaps, by antiseptic 

1 In reference to the possibility of inducing the emotion of fear or 
fright in micro-organisms, M. Binet,in his preface to the American edi- 
tion of his great work on '*The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms/' has 
this to say : " M. Romanes, in his zoological scale, assigns the first mani- 
festations of surprise and fear to the larvae of insects and to the An- 
nelids. We may reply upon this point, that there is not a single ciliate 
Infusory that cannot be frightened, and that does not manifest its fear 
by a rapid flight through the liquid of the preparation. If a drop of 
acetic acid be introduced beneath the glass-slide, in a preparation con- 
taining quantities of Infusoria, the latter will at once be seen to flee in 
all directions like a flock of frightened sheep." 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 211 

conditions provided by the attending surgeon; and 
this increased activity necessarily increases the sen- 
sibility of the parts involved. 

Catalepsy is another form of inhibitory phenomena 
which cannot be ignored in this connection. It v^as 
formerly thought to be a disease; but the better 
opinion now seems to be that it is a supreme effort 
of nature to give the nerves a much needed rest. 
This view is fortified by the fact that it accompanies 
severe nervous diseases, such as hysteria ; and by the 
further fact that, if let alone and not harassed by the 
administration of restoratives, the patient rapidly re- 
cuperates during its continuance, and is convalescent 
when normal conditions are restored. It can be arti- 
ficially induced by hypnotism, including the charac- 
teristic muscular rigidity ; and the universal testimony 
of subjects who have been experimented upon is that 
the experience, short as it usually is in experimental 
cases, is equivalent to a refreshing sleep. It is, in 
fact, one of the most wonderful examples of the 
power of the subjective mind to inliibit functional 
activity; for the inhibition extends alike to brain, 
muscles, and nerves, and, in short, all the vital organs. 
In fact, there have been cases in which the suspen- 
sion of the vital processes was so complete that it 
simulated death so closely as to answer all the or- 
dinary tests; and doubtless many have been buried 
alive while enjoying the recuperative rest which na- 
ture provides, in emergent cases, for the overwrought 
nervous organism. One was made the subject of 
an autopsy, with most indecent haste, in the hope 
of wresting from his brain the secret of certain psy- 
chic powers that had made him famous in two hemi- 



212 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

Spheres. An open letter was in his pocket, addressed 
to the medical profession, stating that he was subject 
to cataleptic seizures, simulating death. 

It will thus be seen that the unprotected cataleptic 

is in danger alike from ignorance and from science. 

Ignorance is prone to bury him alive; and science 

hastens to saw his head open in search of the secrets 

,of the soul. 

This may seem like a digression, but the impor- 
tance of the subject of catalepsy must plead my 
excuse. I have treated the subject more at length 
elsewhere,^ showing the danger involved, not in the 
phenomienon itself, but in the fact that it has been 
treated as a nervous disease, often fatal, instead of 
regarding it in its true light, — that of a purely 
psychological phenomenon. I cannot repeat my ob- 
servations here, without undue repetition, further 
than to remark that the fatal cases are due either to 
premature burial or an autopsy. It is, in fact, a phe- 
nomenal manifestation of vis conservatriv natiircc,^ 
about which so much is said and so little intelligently 
utilized in therapeutic practice. It is, as before re- 
marked, the result of a supreme effort of nature, in 
cases of emergency, to give the whole organism a 
period of rest and consequent recuperation. In a 
word, it is a striking example illustrating the won- 
derful inhibitory powers of the subjective mind. In 
the next chapter I shall attempt to correlate its facts 
with the phenomena of natural sleep and others of a 
cognate character. 

In the meantime I have briefly, though I believe 

1 See '^ The Law of Psychic Phenomena." 

2 The preserving power of nature. 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 213 

with sufficient particularity for present purposes, 
pointed out the physical mechanism and the process 
by means of which those inhibitory powers are ex- 
ercised. And I may here remark that, in this and 
the preceding chapters, I have shown all the mech- 
anism required for a complete working apparatus for 
mental healing; for the formula expressive of the 
work to be done in healing is as simple as that of 
the theory of disease. '' A disease of the body is a 
disease of the cells of the body,'' says Virchow; and 
it rises to the dignity of a universal postulate when 
it is remembered that the body is composed entirely 
of cells. In like manner the theory of mental medi- 
cine may be comprehended in two words, namely, 
'^stimulation'' and '^inhibition;" that is to say, all 
that it is conceivably possible for mental energy to 
accomplish, when operating therapeutically upon a 
congeries of mind organisms under its control, is to 
stimulate the sluggish cells to normal activity and 
inhibit the abnormal activity of the others. Mani- 
festly this is all that can be done by mental energy; 
but just as obviously this is all that needs to be done, 
for it means the restoration of normal conditions to 
the diseased cells. 

Can medicines do more? Clearly not. The real 
question, however, of interest and importance in 
this connection is. Can material remedies effect the 
same results independently of any aid from psychical 
forces? I think not. 

Let me not be misunderstood on this point. I am 
not one of that numerous class of extremists who, 
having learned something of the potency of sugges- 
tion as a factor in therapeutics, are instant and in- 



214 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

sistent in the declaration that the therapeutic value 
of all remedies is due to suggestion, pure and simple. 
Having learned, for instance, that the placebo ^ is 
wonderfully effective in some cases, — many, per- 
haps, — the extremists jump to the conclusion that 
all material remedies must be classed with the 
placebo, the therapeutic efficacy of which is, of 
course, due wholly to suggestion. 

I am fully aware of the potency of suggestion as 

a therapeutic agent. I am also aware that there are 

L many cases in which some form of larvated sugges- 

\ tion is necessary in order to inspire confidence or 

, ( \ overcome prejudice. Indeed, I know some physi- 

i 1 \ cians of high standing in the profession who never 

J^ \ 5 administer anything in the form of medicine except 

' s^ ^ the placebo, accompanied by a vigorous suggestion 

\ Xl^^^ ^^ ^^^ expected results, firmly believing that the 

, i \ therapeutic value of all medicines is due wholly to 

J" 's^ suggestion. 

' ^ j Nevertheless, there are medicines that are effica- 
j^ ^ cious in healing disease when suggestion as a factor 

V \^ in the case seems to have been eliminated. I have in 
^ mind two classes of cases which will serve as exam- 
{ V pies ; there may be more, — I do not know. 

V ^ The first is where the medicine contains the specific 
H \ pabulum, chemical or nutrient, adapted to the require- 
\ / ments of the cells involved. Cells may be starved 

>^ • into inanition, and disease may result. It follows that 

I f normal conditions may be restored by feeding them. 

^\ ^ Indeed, starvation of the body is the starvation of 

^ the cells of the body; and nourishment is the remedy, 

V 

^ J' 1 Any harmless substance given to pacify the patient, such as bread 
S ^ pills, patent medicines, etc. 

i ^ 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 21$ 

whether it is taken in the form of medicine under the 
directions of a physician or in the form of a ^' square 
meal '' prescribed by the cook. 

The other class of medicines to which I refer pro- 
duce their results by indirection ; that is to say, they 
have no therapeutic efficacy in themselves, but they 
serve their purpose by arousing in the cells the in- 
stinct of self-preservation, thus stimulating them to 
intense activity in an effort to eliminate the " medi- 
cine " from the system. This, of course, necessarily 
involves the use of poisonous drugs. Startling as 
this proposition may seem at first glance, it appears 
to be sustained by well-known facts. No one needs 
to be told that, when poison is taken into the system, 
*' nature '' makes a supreme effort to eliminate it, 
" throw it off.'' No histologist needs to be told 
that ^^ nature," in such cases, is represented by the 
cells of the body. They do the work, sometimes 
successfully and sometimes not, — success, of course, 
depending upon the amount of work they have to do 
as proportioned to the energy they possess. If the 
amount of poison is great, the labor required to 
eliminate it is proportionately great, and they may 
perish before accomplishing their task; and even if 
successful, they may find themselves exhausted by 
their efforts and unable to perform their normal 
functions, at least for the time being. But if the 
amount of the poison is small, they may succeed in 
eliminating it, and still have a reserve force left 
sufficient for normal uses. The difference between 
the two cases is the difference between a fatal case 
of poisoning and one that is not. Obviously, in 
either case the cells were stimulated to unwonted 



2l6 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

activity by the presence of imminent danger to life; 
in other words, they were incited to activity by the 
instinct of self-preservation. 

I should hesitate to apply these observations to 
any system of drug medication, did not the facts 
stand out so conspicuously that they cannot be 
ignored. Let us examine a few of them: 

Hahnemann, the great founder of the homoeo- 
pathic system of medicine, builded better than he 
knew when he announced the discovery of that 
''law" or principle of medicine which he embalmed 
in the terse Latin phrase, Similia smiilibits curanHir, 
— vulgarly translated, '' Like cures like." The real 
meaning is that any drug which, when administered 
in large doses to a person in health, will produce a 
given symptom, will cure the same symptom, in a 
diseased person when administered in small doses. 
Nobody has ever been able quite satisfactorily to 
explain how it is possible that a small dose of any 
poison can have exactly the opposite effect of a large 
dose; but all opposition, in Hahnemann's case, was 
confounded, if not silenced, by the wonderful success 
which attended the application of the supposed law 
to actual practice. It is scarcely necessary to remark 
that this is not the only modern instance in which suc- 
cess in healing disease has been held to ''demonstrate" 
the correctness of a theory of therapeutical causation ; 
nor is it necessary to repeat my observations regard- 
ing the logical value of such a supposition. 

The fact remains that Hahnemann was eminently 
successful in curing disease, and his following has 
assumed colossal proportions, in spite of the ridicule 
heaped upon the system on account of the infinitesi- 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 21 y 

mal doses prescribed. This is the vulnerable point 
against which its enemies have hurled their most 
effective weapons, whether of logic or of ridicule; 
and many of Hahnemann's professed followers now 
repudiate the higher attenuations which he pre- 
scribed. This, in my view of the matter, is an error 
on their part, in some cases at least, as will appear 
later. Others have repudiated his doctrine that 
medicine should be administered solely with refer- 
ence to symptoms, holding that the seat and pathol- 
ogy of each case should be studied and medicine 
administered that will affect the organ diseased. In 
this they are undoubtedly correct. Others, again, 
repudiate Hahnemann's fundamental doctrine that 
his one so-called law of Similia covers all cases. 
Dr. Kidd, of London, holds that there are two laws 
governing the subject-matter, namely, Similia simi- 
lihus and Contraria contrariis} 

Without stopping to examine these two alleged 
laws in detail, it must suffice to say that the declara- 
tion that it requires two laws to transform virulent 
poisons into beneficent therapeutic agencies is the 
logical equivalent of saying that neither of them is 
a law, and that we must look further for the true ex- 
plication of the phenomena. Nature's laws do not con- 
tradict each other, nor are they uselessly multiplied, 
although it might well be supposed that it would 
require the concurrent potency of half-a-dozen of 
them to convert a deadly poison into a medicine in 
the common acceptation of the term, — that is, a 
substance possessing in itself a healing potency. 

It is obvious that in casting about for a hypothesis 

^ See " Encyclopaedia Britannica," art. " Homceopathy." 



21 8 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

capable of explaining the therapeutic effect of poison- 
ous substances, we cannot safely postulate direct and 
positive medicinal properties to deadly poisons, be 
the doses large or small. The chemical constituents 
of poisons are not changed by mechanical division. 
But I think we may safely assume, under the hypoth- 
esis suggested in the opening of this discussion, that 
the most virulent poisons may have an indirect ther- 
apeutic effect when administered in infinitesimal 
quantities. 

Allow me to repeat. Poisons necessarily stimulate 
the cells with which they come in contact; that is 
to say, the cells are energized by the instinct of self- 
preservation, and they make a supreme effort to 
eliminate the poison from the organism. If the 
quantity is too great, the cells are either paralyzed 
or killed. If the amount of poison is small, the same 
instinctive energy is nevertheless aroused, and the 
same effort is made to get rid of the poison. If the 
amount is small enough, they succeed in eliminating 
it, and have a wide margin of reserve energy left for 
normal uses. 

It follows that the smaller the amount of poison 
they have to contend with, the greater the amount 
of energy remaining in the cells. Hence the alleged 
superior efficacy of the high dilutions. If Hahne- 
mann demonstrated anything in reference to his 
system, it was this, and he constantly insisted upon 
it as long as he lived; and the few that remain of 
his faithful followers all insist that the higher atten- 
uations are the more efficacious. And it must neces- 
sarily be true if my hypothesis is correct. But if 
Similia similibus is postulated, the question will ever 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 2ig 

arise to plague its advocates, When, in the process 
of mechanical division, does poison cease to be poison, 
its chemical properties remaining constant ? In other 
words, when, in the process of braying it in a mortar, 
does a poison which is destructive of organic tissue 
become a nutritive pabulum for the nourishment and 
regeneration of the living elements of organic tissues? 
The question answers itself, for everybody knows 
that the mechanical division of chemical substances 
does not change their nature. A teaspoonful of salt 
dissolved in a hogshead of pure water can be recov- 
ered again, as salt, without loss in weight or modi- 
fication of properties. 

It seems clear, therefore, that a valid working 
hypothesis explanatory of the therapeutic effect of 
poisons must take into account the fact that me- 
chanical division does not change the nature of 
chemical compounds, and that a poison is still a 
poison, however minutely it may be divided. When 
these facts are taken into consideration, the con- 
clusion necessarily follows that the therapeutic 
effects of poisons are secondary, that is, produced 
by indirection. 

I submit that the theory I have suggested embraces 
all the elements of a valid and useful working hypoth- 
esis; for it accounts for all the phenomena relating 
to the therapeutical efficacy of virulent poisons, and 
it does not require the postulation of a manifest 
absurdity. Moreover, it is based upon the known 
facts of histology and experimental psychology. The 
former reveals the cellular structure of the body, and 
forces the conclusion that all diseases of the body are 
diseases of the cells of the body. The latter reveals 



220 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

the psychology of the micro-organisms of which the 
whole physical structure is composed, and takes into 
account that wonderful, sleepless intelligence which 
guards and directs the whole. It is safe to assume 
that if Hahnemann had been in possession of the 
facts revealed by these two sciences, the theory of 
Similia similihus curanHir would not have been heard 
of through him ; for it would have been then, as it is 
now, an unnecessary hypothesis. As it was, the facts 
seemed to sustain him, and he was justified in 
announcing his discovery and fighting his battles to 
the end. In other words, his practice was purely 
empirical, although he thought he had discovered a 
universal law of medicine. Nevertheless, it w^as a 
great step in the evolution of medical science; and 
he is entitled to the gratitude of mankind for that 
he has taught the medical profession the folly of 
administering medicines in heroic doses. 

I have referred exclusively to homoeopathy in this 
connection for the reason that that school furnishes 
the most numerous examples demonstrative of the 
fact that, for some reason and in some way, the most 
virulent poisons have a therapeutic value. Doubtless 
many, if not all, medicines, except those that fur- 
nish to the cells some form of nutriment, operate on 
the same principle. Take, for example, the old-school 
method of treating a torpid liver by mercurial rem- 
edies. Who can doubt that mercury is a poison 
which, for some unknown reason, naturally gravitates 
toward the liver; or that the hepatic cells make 
strenuous efforts to eliminate it, stimulated thereto 
by the instinct of self-preservation? That it is a 
poison to be gotten rid of, is tacitly admitted by the 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 221 

physician, who invariably orders a saline cathartic 
for that very purpose. Mercurial treatment of the 
liver is also illustrative of the change in practice, 
by physicians of the old school, in the matter of 
dosage. Thirty years ago, ten to twenty grains of 
blue-mass was not considered excessive in cases of 
torpidity of the liver. To-day the same physicians 
prescribe calomel in one-tenth grain doses, or even 
smaller; and experience teaches that the modern 
practice is the best. This also illustrates the main 
point of my contention; for the old-style doses of 
blue-mass would prostrate the average patient for 
at least twenty-four hours, whereas the modern dose, 
while it is equally effective, is not followed by the 
old-style aftermath. The reasons may be restated: 
The effort required to eliminate a large dose exhausts 
the cells, and time is required for recuperation before 
normal conditions are restored; whereas the small 
dose is equally effective in stimulating the cells to 
action, but the energy expended in removing the 
poison is so small that the cells have a reserve force 
left sufficient for normal uses. 

I have introduced this subject, not for the purpose 
of exploiting a new and universal theory of medicine, 
for I disclaim an object so ambitious; but because 
I wish to make it clear to the reader ( i ) that there 
is a psychic factor in all healing agencies, mental or 
material; (2) that this factor is not confined to sug- 
gestion in the ordinary sense of the term; (3) that 
no system of healing, mental or material, can be 
hypothetically valid or complete that fails to take 
cognizance of all the psychic factors; and (4) that 
no system, mental or material, can be adequately 



222 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

comprehended without some knowledge of the his- 
tological structure of the physical organism. 

The first three points have been sufficiently dis- 
cussed for my present purpose, which is merely to 
suggest a method of investigation, rather than to 
exploit a scientific dogma. In reference to the fourth 
point, it is only necessary to say that, since Virchow's 
cellular theory of disease is now universally accepted, 
it follows that therapeutics, as well as pathology, 
must be studied histologically. And it would be like 
the proverbial play of '' * The Prince of Denmark ' 
with the part of Hamlet left out,'' to ignore the psy- 
chological powers, attributes, and functions of the 
cells themselves; for each one is, first of all, a mind 
organism, and it is differentiated psychologically as 
well as physically, with special reference to the place 
it occupies and the functions it performs in the grand 
confederation. It is an axiom of biological science 
that there can be no life without mind. In fact, there 
is no distinction between life and mind that is not, 
in the last analysis, merely verbal. 

The cell is the unit of animal life. It is an intelli- 
gent entity. It is moved by mental impulses. It is 
actuated by mental stimuli, and undue action is 
inhibited by the same energy. The microscope 
reveals all this, and it exhibits the structural lines of 
communication between cell and cell and between the 
central, controlling intelligence and each particular 
cell. It follows that a system of therapeutics that 
ignores the psychology of the cell fails to take into 
consideration the prime factor of life and vitality, 
and is the equivalent of ignoring the existence of 
the cell itself. 



THE MECHANISM OF INHIBITION 223 

Indeed, the psychology of the cell furnishes a com- 
mon field of observation for all the schools of thera- 
peutics, mental and material, and none can safely 
ignore the lessons that it teaches. If I were to assume 
the role of a prophet, I should predict that in that 
field will eventually be found the means of harmo- 
nizing all the schools; for it is obvious that it is 
only by the correlation of the facts of psychology 
with those of physiology and histology that the truth 
can be approximated. If any one of the sciences 
could be safely ignored, it certainly could not be 
psychology; for man is, first, last, and all the time, 
a psychological being, whose every fibre is made up 
of living entities, each one of which is endowed 
with psychological powers, performs psychological 
functions, and is controlled by psychological energy. 

Is it not all but self-evident that it is because 
cellular psychology has been ignored by the medical 
profession, as a factor in pathology and therapeutics, 
that the healing art is one of pure empiricism ? 



CHAPTER V 

INHIBITION AND SLEEP, NATURAL AND 
INDUCED 

The Various Hypotheses advanced to account for the Phenomenon of 
Sleep. — The Power of Inhibition possessed by the Subjective Mind 
an Adequate Explication. — The Powers of Stimulation and In- 
hibition correlative. — The Alternation of Work and Rest a Law 
which pertains to all the Cells of the Body. — The Isolation of the 
Brain Cells from Contact with Each Other the Cause of Uncon- 
sciousness. — A Universal Law of Inhibition comprehended in the 
Formula " Segregation of Cells." — Natural and Induced Sleep 
identical. — Hypnotism but a Concomitant of the Power to induce 
Natural Sleep. 

I NOW resume the discussion of the phenomena 
of inhibition, for the purpose of considering the 
question, Does not this subjective power of inhibition 
afford a vaHd explanation of the mysterious phe- 
nomena of sleep, natural and induced ? 

Much has been written on the subject of cerebral 
anatomy and histology, and scientists are in practical 
accord as to the general structure of the brain and 
the functions it performs during waking hours. All 
are agreed that sleep is a condition of rest of the 
nervous system, during which there is a renewal of 
the energy that has been expended during the hours 
of wakefulness, and that sleep is promoted by fatigue 
of the nervous system. But no two of them agree 



INHIBITION AND SLEEP 225 

as to what changes take place in the organism that 
produce the state of unconsciousness. Numerous 
hypotheses have been advanced to account for the 
phenomenon, but none have thus far proved to be 
in accord with all the facts in the case. Thus, it 
has been held by some that sleep is caused by cerebral 
congestion ; that is, that the blood vessels of the brain 
are charged during sleep with an unusual amount of 
blood. Others have no difficulty in proving that 
during sleep the brain is in a comparatively bloodless 
condition, and that the blood in the encephalic vessels 
is not only diminished in quantity, but moves with 
diminished rapidity (Durham). The conclusion was 
that increase of blood pressure tends to produce wake- 
fulness, and decrease induces sleep. On the other 
hand, Mosso has shown that the amount of blood 
in the brain during sleep is constantly fluctuating 
from natural causes and environmental conditions, 
and that it may be experimentally increased and de- 
creased, within wide limits, without awakening the 
sleeper. Preyer held that it was due to the accumu- 
lation in the nerve centres, as a result of fatigue, of 
sarcolactic acid; but later experiments have demon- 
strated the incorrectness of the hypothesis. Pfliiger 
labored to prove that a deficiency in the supply of 
oxygen to the brain was the cause of sleep; to which 
Professor McKendrick replied that such a theory 
implies that cerebral activity depends upon cerebral 
respiration, and that sleep must therefore be a kind 
of '' cerebral asphyxia.'' ^ 

In fact many other theories are extant, some of 

1 See article by Professor McKendrick, in " Encyclopaedia Britan- 
nica," on '' Sleep." 

15 



226 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

which postulate pathological conditions of the brain 
and nervous system to account for the phenomenon of 
unconsciousness. But it is safe to say that no hy- 
pothesis has yet been advanced that is sufficiently 
comprehensive to account for all the facts ; and hence 
the present attitude of science is that of suspended 
judgment, awaiting further investigation. 

The question, then, recurs, Does not the inhibitory 
power inherent in the subjective mind furnish a valid 
explanation of the phenomenon under consideration? 
It seems to me that the question answers itself in 
view of what we have already seen of the inhibitory 
potency of that intelligent, sleepless energy which 
presides over all the vital functions of the whole 
organism. 

It would be a work of supererogation to repeat 
what has already been said relating to the inhibitory 
powers of the subjective mind, and the visible mech- 
anism through which it operates, beyond reminding 
the reader that — 

The subjective mind presides over all involuntary 
muscles, functions, and processes of the whole organ- 
ism. Hence its power necessarily extends to every 
cell in the body ; and, to be effective, it must include 
the power to restrain abnormal activity as well as 
the power to stimulate and promote normal function- 
ing. They are correlative powers, and the existence 
of one necessarily implies the existence of the other, 
just as much as the power of an engineer to open 
the throttle-valve of a locomotive implies the power 
to close it. Obviously, in either case, the exercise 
of one power in the absence of the other would end 
in disaster to the machine. 



INHIBITION AND SLEEP 22^ 

The fact is, if we can once succeed in divesting 
our minds of all ideas of possible abnormal condi- 
tions precedent to sleep, and our imaginations of the 
glamour of mystery, romance, and superstition with 
which poets and other dreamers have invested it, we 
shall have no difficulty in correlating its phenomena 
with others not so mysterious, or, rather, not so 
conspicuously in evidence in their manifestations. To 
that end we must begin by keeping separate, in our 
investigations, the psychological functions of the 
waking brain cells and their physiological functions 
when considered as a part of the physical structure. 
We shall then no longer be awed by the phenomenon 
of insensibility, nor wrought upon by the idea of 
a mind blotted out, nor harassed by the thought that 
sleep is the " twin-brother,'' or even the half-brother, 
of death. On the contrary, w^e shall find that the 
phenomenon called sleep is merely incidental to the 
operation of a universal psychological law which 
pertains alike to all the cells of the body. That law 
is that, under normal conditions, rest must always 
alternate with work in all vital processes and phe- 
nomena, otherwise speedy exhaustion and death 
necessarily follow. This is true of all the cells, as 
before remarked. Even the pulsating heart, appar- 
ently working without intermission, is in reality not 
doing so, as there are short intervals of relaxation 
between individual beats in which there is no ex- 
penditure of energy.^ The same is true of the other 
nerve centres, the continuous functioning of which 
is essential to life, — for example, respiration and 
the distribution of blood. Aside from these, all the 

1 Op. cit. 



228 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

Other nerve centres and their component cehs enjoy 
comparatively long intervals of rest. And this is 
true, presumably, without reference to their waking 
functions. I say presumably, because the logical 
presumption is that all the cells which enjoy alternate 
periods of rest and work are governed by the same 
law. Besides, it is an inexorable rule of scientific 
induction that we must never needlessly multiply 
causes. I submit that there is neither a logical, a 
psychological, nor a physiological necessity for two 
hypotheses to account for the same phenomenon, — 
one for brain cells and another for other cells. The 
object of inhibition is the same in all cases, namely, 
rest; and the mechanism is the same, the difference 
being one of degree. That is to say, the brain cells 
are the more abundantly provided with filamentary 
lines of intercommunication. But their functions are 
identical with those belonging to the humblest cell 
in the physical organism ; that is, they are the instru- 
mentalities for the transmission of intelligence and 
sensation from cell to cell, thus enabling the whole 
to act as one. It follows that the process of inhi- 
bition is the same. 

We have already seen that the retraction of these 
filamentary lines of intercommunication results in the 
isolation of the cells and the consequent induction of 
anaesthesia. In other words, the functions of the cells 
are for the time being suspended; they no longer 
convey intelligence or sensation to their fellows, and 
they are therefore, to all intents and purposes, asleep, 
— unconscious. I submit that if this is true of any 
one group of cells in the organism, it is true of the 
brain cells. 



INHIBITION AND SLEEP 22g 

To the long-mooted question, therefore, What are 
the specific changes in the organism that produce the 
state of unconsciousness ? my tentative reply is. It is 
the isolation of the brain cells from physical contact 
with each other. 

Let us examine this question a little further with 
special reference to the brain cells, their functions, 
and their filamentary connections. 

We have already seen that the cells of the cerebral 
cortex are the depositories of memories, and that they 
are connected with each other by filaments similar in 
kind, and presumably in purpose, to those which con- 
nect the other cells of the body with their neighbors, 
or coadjutors in functional activity. Roughly speak- 
ing, we may say, by way of illustration, that each 
cell is the storehouse of a memory of an experience, 
or, let us say, of a fact, that may in due time be used 
in connection with other associated facts for purposes 
of induction. But before kindred facts or memories 
can be brought into actual association, a connection 
must be estabhshed between the various cells which 
contain them; and this is the office performed by 
the filamentary lines of communication already de- 
scribed. These filamentary lines may be termed the 
instruments of m.ental association; and they account 
for " the tendency of a sensation, perception, feeling, 
volition, or thought to recall to consciousness others 
which have previously existed in consciousness with 
It or with states similar to it.'' ^ In a word, the 
brain cells and their lines of communication with each 
other constitute the physical mechanism of induction, 
of correlation, or of association of ideas ; the tendency 
in an active brain being for each cell to establish 

1 Century Dictionary. 



230 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

immediate connection with new and kindred ideas 
and to refunction on lines already established. In 
other words, these lines of communication constitute 
the mechanism which enables the brain cells to act 
as a unit, precisely as the filamentary connections 
between the cells of the body enable them to act in 
harmony, and live, move, and have their being as one. 

As we have already seen, when the connections 
between the cells of the body are operative, intelli- 
gence and sensation are communicable; but when 
from any cause they are withdrawn, all sensation is 
inhibited, anaesthesia results, — local or general, as 
the case may be, — and we say that the body is 
insensible. The cells are at rest. In like manner, 
when the connections between the brain cells are 
intact, the process of mentation goes on; memory 
combinations are made and crystallized into ideas, 
and we say the brain is active, — the mind is con- 
scious, — the man is awake. But when the cells are 
exhausted, and a period of rest and recuperation is 
required, the connections between the cells are with- 
drawn, and the brain, to all intents and purposes, is 
resolved into its constituent elements. It is then 
simply a mass of unicellular organisms for the time 
being, — an aggregation and not an organization, — 
and, as such, it is just as incapable of thinking, or of 
an interchange of sensations, as would be an equal 
bulk of protozoans dredged from the bottom of the 
ocean. The cells are at rest ; the brain is asleep, — 
unconscious. 

I submit that this hypothesis, crudely and imper- 
fectly as it is stated, affords a complete explanation 
of all the facts pertaining to the phenomena of sleep. 
I have not space in this outline to dwell upon the 



INHIBITION AND SLEEP 23 1 

particulars of the various phases of the phenomena, 
but the intelHgent reader will supply the deficiency. 
In the meantime I have but to remark that it seems 
to indicate the existence of a universal law of inhi- 
bition, — a law which enables the subjective mind to 
meet all emergencies as they arise, in sickness, in 
health, in deadly peril, and in death. That is to say, it 
enables it to inhibit pain in surgery or in sickness; 
it enables it in health to give all the cells of the body 
the necessary periods of rest and recuperation; it 
enables it to take entire possession of the body when 
imminent danger threatens ; and finally, it enables it 
to afford complete immunity from suffering in the 
hour of final dissolution. 

The most wonderful part of it all is the simplicity 
of the process and of the physical mechanism by 
which all these things are accomplished. It may all 
be comprehended in the simple formula, Segregation 
of cells. It is this, together with the wide range of 
its usefulness, that stamps it as a law and attests 
its universality. 

It will now be obvious to the intelligent student of 
experimental psychology that this hypothesis affords 
an explanation of much that is mysterious in the 
phenomena of hypnotism. Students of my earlier 
works will remember that, following Bernheim and 
Liebault, I stated that " there is nothing to differ- 
entiate hypnotic sleep from natural sleep," ^ and gave 
many reasons for entertaining that opinion. They 
need not be repeated here, for they all pertain to 
phenomena occurring subsequently to the Induction of 
sleep. In the years that have elapsed since the ex- 
pression of that view I have never seen any reason 

1 The Law of Psychic Phenomena, pp. 179 et seq. 



232 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

to change it, although it has frequently been contro- 
verted by those possessing only a superficial knowl- 
edge of the subject. It is now apparent that Liebault, 
whom Professor Bernheim credits with being the 
first to proclaim the doctrine, builded better than he 
knew; for if my theory of sleep is correct, natural 
and induced sleep are identical. That is to say, the 
same subjective energy that induces sleep in one case 
induces it in the other, — by the same process, and 
by the aid of the same histological mechanism. 

No one now pretends to deny the fact that the 
sleep of hypnotism is induced by the subjective mind, 
acting in obedience to the suggestions of the operator ; 
and everybody knows that the state is brought about 
by inhibiting the activity of the brain cells. That the 
subjective mind is charged with the induction of 
natural sleep is evidenced by the fact that insomnia 
is often cured by suggestion. It possesses the power, 
therefore, and as it is charged with the responsibility 
for the well-being of the whole vital organism, no 
good reason can be seen for making an exception of 
that which is most imperatively necessary to the well- 
being of the organism, — the rest and recuperation 
of the brain cells. 

It will now be seen that if this hypothesis is correct, 
or approximately correct, both natural and induced 
sleep are robbed of their mystery. Natural sleep is 
seen to be nature's method of securing the necessary 
intervals of bodily rest and recuperation; and the 
power to induce and regulate it necessarily inheres 
in that sleepless energy which controls, subject al- 
ways to the law of suggestion, all the other physical 
functions and conditions. 

And hypnotism, or the power to induce sleep, is 



INHIBITION AND SLEEP 233 

seen to be, not a thing apart, not anything exceptional, 
— not a mysterious power, resident somewhere, for 
some occult purpose, and capable only of inducing 
abnormal conditions of body and mind, — but a con- 
comitant of the ponder to induce natural sleep. It is 
governed by the same laws and restricted by the same 
limitations, and the same physical mechanism is em- 
ployed in the same way to induce it; that is to say, 
it is brought about by isolating the brain cells from 
physical contact with each other, just as in natural 
sleep. In either case the different stages of sleep 
are due to their more or less complete isolation ; 
and the variant phenomena in different cases, and at 
different times in the same subject, are due to the 
variant degrees of isolation in different departments 
of the cerebral cortex. This is a subject, however, 
which cannot be entered upon at this time; for it is 
believed that the intelligent student of hypnotism will 
have no difficulty, under this hypothesis, in solving 
the various minor problems as they arise. In the 
meantime my sole object has been to point out an 
efficient cause for the phenomenon of induced sleep 
and to correlate it with other similar states and con- 
ditions, with the view of showing that hypnotism is 
but one of the numerous phenomenal manifestations 
of that inhibitory energy which constitutes the con- 
servative power of the vital organism. In a word, 
hypnotism is a subsidiary phase of the phenomicnal 
manifestations of that energy. It is merely incidental 
to it, and not '' a law unto itself.'' 



CHAPTER VI 

ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, AND LAYING 
ON OF HANDS 

The Immediate Cause of Natural, Hypnotic, and Mesmeric Sleep the 
Same. — The Process and Theory of Mesmerism. — Braid's Ex- 
periments. — The Process of Hypnotism. — The Confusion in 
Terms and Methods. — Liebault's Formulation of the Law of Sug- 
gestion. — Suggestion regarded as a Universal Solvent of the 
Mysteries of Hypnotism and Mesmerism. — The Effects of Hypno- 
tism and Mesmerism due to Different Proximate Causes. — Physi- 
cal Contact the Essential Feature which distinguishes Mesmeric 
from Hypnotic Practice. — The Psycho-Histological Theory. — 
Historical Sketch of '* Healing by Touch." — The Effects of this 
Process not accounted for by Suggestion in the Ordinary Sense of 
that Term. 

ALL that has been said in reference to the cause 
of sleep, whether natural or induced by the 
processes of hypnotism, applies with equal pertinency 
to that induced by the processes of mesmerism or 
so-called animal magnetism. The obvious reason is 
that the immediate or efficient cause of sleep is the 
same in all cases, whatever may have been the visible 
means of inducing the histological conditions that 
cause or constitute sleep. 

The parallel between hypnotism proper and animal 
magnetism, so called, practically ends here. Owing, 
however, to a defective terminology that has grown 
out of conflicting theories of causation, the distinc- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC, 235 

tion between mesmerism aiid hypnotism has been 
lost sight of by many writers. 

The practice growing out of this confusion of 
terms has also served to obHterate distinctions, so 
that many who call themselves hypnotists in reality 
employ mesmeric methods in whole or in part, and 
vice versa. 

It will first be necessary, therefore, to give the 
reader a clear understanding of what I regard as 
the true line of distinction, to the end that I may 
not be misunderstood when I undertake to make a 
practi^cal application of the facts we have learned in 
previous chapters to the subject before us. 

"Mesmerism'' and ''animal magnetism'' are terms 
that are frequently used interchangeably, because they 
represent the same theory of causation. Hypnotism 
represents another, and a radically different, theory 
of causation; but both stand for methods of induc- 
ing sleep for experimental or therapeutical purposes. 
The differences, of course, are in the theories and 
in the practice under them. 

The mesmerists, or animal magnetists, induce 
sleep by processes varying in detail, but consisting 
essentially of coming into personal contact with the 
subject, and concentrating the mind upon the work 
in hand. Contact is made, sometimes by the operator 
pressing the balls of his thumbs against those of the 
patient ; sometimes by making passes over him, with 
or without contact with his person; but generally 
by gently touching him at various points, particu- 
larly on the head and face; and often by merely 
laying one hand upon the forehead of the subject 
and the other at the base of his brain. For the 



236 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

relief of local pain the hand is pressed upon the part 
ajffected, or gentle contact-passes are made over the 
same. But whatever the details may be, in the 
process of manipulation, ihe essentials are personal 
contact and concentration of mind. 

The theory of Mesmer and his followers is that a 
health-giving fluid emanates from the operator and 
impinges upon the patient at whatever point the con- 
tact is made. This hypothetical fluid is the ^^ animal 
magnetism '' of which we hear so much and know 
so little. It is supposed, however, to be charged, 
not only with health and vitality in a concrete form, 
but to invest its possessor with dominion over his 
fellows in love, war, politics, religion, and commerce. 
At least so say the current advertisements of those 
who have it for sale in the form of '' lessons '' at so 
much per lesson. 

To do the early mesmerists entire justice, they did 
not claim for the hypothetical fluid the wide range 
of power and usefulness that is now claimed by the 
charlatans into whose hands it has fallen. But their 
ideas were sufficiently extravagant to make it the 
vulnerable point in mesmerism; at least it was the 
point which science, as represented by the medical 
profession of the day, attacked with hysterical in- 
sistence, not to say, insensate virulence. It was the 
weak point in the armor of mesmerism, because it 
could not be demonstrated, — that is to say, the fluid 
could not be segregated, bottled, and analyzed. The 
therapeutic efficacy of the practice, however, could 
be demonstrated; but that fact apparently served 
but to increase the virulence of the attacks upon the 
fluidic theory. This view of the matter, however, 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC, 237 

can only be sustained by the presupposition that the 
average physician is violently prejudiced against any 
theory or system of practice that threatens to heal 
the sick without the use of drugs. Be this as it 
may, the fact remains that the medical profession 
waged incessant warfare against mesmerism, osten- 
sibly because the fluidic theory was held, a priori^ to 
be unsound and unscientific. 

In the meantime the mesmerists fell naturally into 
the common fallacy of supposing that their success 
in practice was demonstrative of the soundness of 
their theory. Thus believing, they found no difficulty 
in identifying themselves with that numerous and 
highly respectable class known as martyrs to the 
cause of Truth; and, consequently hysteria entered 
as a factor in the controversy on the side of the 
mesmerists as well as on that of their opponents. 

And thus the controversy went on for many years. 
The mesmerists constantly gained ground, because 
they could heal the sick ; and their opponents as con- 
stantly lost ground because they were powerless to 
disprove the facts of mesmerism or its theory of 
causation. 

In the meantime Braid, a Manchester physician of 
high standing and repute, became convinced of the 
genuineness of the mesmeric sleep and of its thera- 
peutic value, but remained unconvinced of the scien- 
tific validity of the mesmeric theory of causation. 
In other words, he did not deem it incumbent upon 
him to deny the facts because he deemed the theory 
untenable; but, like a true scientist, he proceeded to 
institute a series of experiments to prove the one and 
to disprove the other. In this he partially succeeded. 



238 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICLNE 

He confirmed the sleep together with its therapeutic 
potency ; and he demonstrated the fact that the sleep 
could be induced without physical contact with the 
subject, by simply causing the latter to gaze steadily 
upon a bright object held slightly above the level of 
his eyes. This process of inducing sleep w^as desig- 
nated by its discoverer as '' hypnotism," from the 
Greek radix liypnos, signifying sleep. Properly 
speaking, therefore, the word should be restricted 
accordingly ; for it was coined, not to rechristen mes- 
merism, but to distinguish the Braidian process from 
that of mesmerism or animal magnetism. This dis- 
tinction, however, was soon lost sight of by the 
successors of Braid, who held that his discovery had 
solved the whole problem of induced sleep and dis- 
proved the fluidic theory. Braid himself did not 
make so broad a claim, although he was as anxious 
as were his professional brethren to demonstrate the 
invalidity of that theory. He simply claimed to 
have discovered one method by which sleep can be 
induced without personal contact, and, consequently, 
independently of the hypothetical magnetic fluid. 
He expressly declared that his method was not iden- 
tical with that of mesmerism, but he considered '' the 
condition of the nervous system induced by both 
modes to be analogous,'' — both of which proposi- 
tions are self-evident. He admitted that the higher 
phenomena of mesmerism could not be produced by 
his processes, for example, thought-transference, etc. ; 
whereas by the mesmeric methods the phenomenon 
of thought-reading — or telepathy, as it is now gen- 
erally termed — was very easily produced. 

It will thus be seen that there is a very clear line 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC. 239 

of distinction between mesmerism and hypnotism, as 
the latter was understood and practised by its dis- 
coverer. The one required personal contact, and the 
other did not. By the methods of mesmerism the 
higher phenomena could be produced with wonderful 
ease and certainty; whereas hypnotism, as practised 
by its founder, was powerless in that direction. In 
the light of later developments, therefore, it is self- 
evident that the essential difference was primarily 
in the methods of inducing the sleep, and that, so 
far as Braid himself is concerned, he deliberately 
threw away all that was distinctively valuable and 
vital in mesmerism, labelled the rest " hypnotism,'' 
and invited Science to feast on the dry bones. He 
was not responsible, however, for the misinterpreta- 
tion of his work that immediately followed, nor for 
the confusion consequent upon the misinterpretation. 
The vital point in which his work was misinterpreted 
consisted in the assumption, by the enemies of mes- 
merism, that Braid had disproved the fluidic theory. 
This led to a confusion in terminology, in that the 
word "' hypnotism " came to be employed as a generic 
term, definitive of all methods of inducing sleep, so 
that, instead of distinguishing Braidism from mes- 
merism, it obliterated all distinctions. This, in 
turn, led to a deplorable mixing of methods, so 
that hypnotists were prone to employ mesmeric 
methods in conjunction with those of hypnotism 
proper; and mesmerists often employed the hypnotic 
process because of its greater facility in inducing 
sleep. 

The result was that mesmerists gradually lost the 
power to produce the higher phenomena which dis- 



240 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDLCINE 

tinguished their performances when the old methods 
were exclusively employed. 

In the meantime Braidism gradually gained a 
standing among the medical profession of Conti- 
nental Europe; and this eventually led to the for- 
mulation of the law of suggestion, as applied to 
hypnotism. That is to say, it was discovered that 
persons in the hypnotic state are constantly amenable 
to control by the subtle power of suggestion; and 
the law was thus formulated by Liebault, of Nancy. 
It has since been discovered, however, that the law^ 
not only applies to hypnotized persons, but that it is 
a general law ^ of the subjective mind, without re- 
striction as to particular states or conditions of the 
objective mind. 

Nevertheless, limited as it was supposed to be to 
the hypnotic state, it threw a flood of light upon the 
phenomena of both hypnotism and mesmerism. The 
result was that in a very short time there sprang up 
a school of hypnotism (Nancy) which taught that 
all that is mysterious about either hypnotism or 
mesmerism found a universal solvent in suggestion. 
This, of course, served to confuse the public mind 
still further as to m.ethods, and to obliterate distinc- 
tions as to causation. Thus, the ultra-suggestionists 
held that all that was supposed to distinguish mes- 
merism from hypnotism was easily explicable by 
reference to suggestion; that physical contact was 
but a form of larvated suggestion ; that passes served 
but the one purpose of inspiring confidence, having 
no therapeutic value beyond the suggestion embraced 

^ See ^* The Law of Psychic Phenomena/* where it was first gener- 
alized as a universal law. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC, 241 

in the act; that digital manipulation of any kind 
owed its therapeutic efficiency solely to suggestion; 
and many went so far as to include all material rem- 
edies in the category of larvated suggestions. 

I have already pointed out the fallacy of this belief 
so far as material remedies are concerned. Else- 
where^ I have pointed out the fact that Braid's 
experiments demonstrated that adults could be hyp- 
notized by his methods when suggestion in any form 
was out of the question; and the records of mes- 
merism are overflowing with evidence of the fact 
that many of its most important phenomena are pro- 
duced under circumstances that exclude oral sug- 
gestion, or its equivalents, as a factor in the case. 
For instance, the fact that some animals can be 
mesmerized, and others hypnotized, demonstrates the 
absence, in both cases, of either oral suggestion, or 
any form of larvated suggestion that appeals to the 
intelligence of the subject. Moreover, the fact that 
young children can be successfully treated by mes- 
meric methods, and not by the processes of hypnotism 
proper, is demonstrative of the fact, not only that 
oral suggestion, or its equivalents, does not enter 
as a factor in either case, but that the effects of 
mesmerism and of hypnotism are due to radically 
and essentially different proximate causes. Again, 
what is of equal or of greater interest and impor- 
tance, it demonstrates the vastly wider range of use- 
fulness of mesmerism over hypnotism. 

The questions, therefore, still remaining unan- 
swered are — 

1 See "The Law of Psychic Phenomena," where this and cognate 
subjects are more fully treated. 

16 



242 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

1. What are the points of essential difference in 
the practice of hypnotism and mesmerism? 

In answer to this, however, it may be safely as- 
sumed that, broadly speaking, physical contact is the 
one essential feature of mesmeric practice that dis- 
tinguishes it from that of hypnotism. At least it is 
the only visible, tangible difference; and it is tacitly 
assumed to be the only difference by the enemies of 
mesmerism who have sought to show that physical 
contact is unnecessary. 

2. The second question, then, is, What is the ra- 
tionale of the therapeutic potency of physical contact ? 

This question reintroduces the old problem of 
fluidic emanations, or the theory of animal magne- 
tism; for thus far but two hypotheses have been 
advanced to account for the phenomena. One is the 
theory of suggestion, and the other is the theory of 
fluidic emanations. I purpose introducing another 
hypothesis, based upon the correlated facts of psy- 
chology and histology, which may be provisionally 
termed the psycho-histological theory, or the theory 
of direct mental action upon the cells involved. 

I have shown that suggestion, in the ordinary sense 
of the term, cannot be invoked to account for the 
phenomena incident to personal contact; and as this 
will more fully appear as we proceed, I shall pro- 
visionally dismiss it as untenable. 

This leaves the fluidic theory alone to be discussed 
in connection with my own interpretation of the phe- 
nomena. This I shall undertake in the following 
chapter. In the meantime I desire to impress upon 
the mind of the reader that no theory invoked to 
explain the results of personal contact with the pa- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC, 243 

tient in the practice of mesmerism can possess the 
slightest claim to validity if it is not also applicable 
to the innumerable cases recorded in history, and 
handed down by tradition, of healing by touch, 
or the laying on of hands. For if there is a prin- 
ciple or law of nature underlying the phenomena as 
shown in mesmerism, it follows that all methods of 
healing in which physical contact is the essence of 
the process are governed by the same law. 

In order to give the reader a faint idea of its an- 
tiquity, its potency as a therapeutic agency, the wide 
range of its usefulness to mankind in the past, and 
its potentialities when the principle underlying it is 
once understood, I condense Ennemoser's historical 
sketch of healing by touch or the laying on of 
hands : ^ — 

The healing of the sick by touch and the laying 
on of hands, says that indefatigable historian of 
ancient methods of healing, is to be found among 
the earliest nations, — among the Indians, the Egyp- 
tians, and especially among the Jews. In Egypt, 
sculptures have been found where ^^ one hand is 
represented on the stomach and the other on the 
back.'' 2 Even the Chinese, according to the ac- 
counts of the early missionaries -^(Athanasius Kircher, 
** China illustrata ''), healed sickness by the laying 
on of hands. In the Old Testament we find numer- 
ous examples, of which a few are selected. 

When Moses found his end approaching, he prayed 

1 See Hewitt's translation of Ennemoser's ^' History of Magic/' 
vol. i. pp. 109 et seq. (Bohn's Scientific Library). 

2 I desire the reader to make a mental note of this fact in view of 
what is to follow when we come to treat of the practical methods of 
healing by digital manipulation. 



244 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

for a worthy successor, and we find the following pas- 
sage (Numbers xxvii. i8, 20) : '' And the Lord said 
unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man 
in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him. 
. . . And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon 
him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel 
may be obedient." 

Another instance is to be found in the healing of 
the seemingly dead child by Elisha, who stretched 
himself three times upon the child, and called upon 
the Lord. The manner in which Elisha raised the 
dead son of the Shunamite woman is still more re- 
markable. He caused Gehazi to proceed before him 
to lay his staff upon the face of the dead child. This, 
however, proved to be of no avail, for reasons which 
will be stated in their proper place hereinafter. But 
when Elisha went up into the room, and laid himself 
upon the child, etc., and his hands upon the child's 
hands, so that the child's body became warm again, 
the child opened its eyes. 

The New Testament is particularly rich in exam- 
ples of the efficacy of laying on of hands. " Neglect 
not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee 
by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the 
presbytery" (i Timothy iv. 14), is a principal maxim 
of the Apostles, for the practical use of their powers 
for the good of their brethren in Christ. 

In St. Mark we find (xvi. 18), ''They shall lay 
hands on the sick, and they shall recover." St. Paul 
was remarkable for his powers : "And it came to pass 
that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of 
a bloody flux ; to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, 
and laid his hands on him, and healed him " (Acts 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC, 245 

xxviii. 8). "And Ananias went his way, and en- 
tered into the house ; and putting his hands on him, 
said. Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that ap- 
peared unto thee in the way as thou earnest hath sent 
me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled 
with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell 
from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received 
sight'' (Acts ix. 17, 18). In St. Mark we find: 
'' And they brought young children to him, that he 
should touch them; and his disciples rebuked those 
that brought them. But when Jesus saw it he was 
much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little 
children to come unto me, . . . for of such is the 
kingdom of God. . . . And he took them up in his 
arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them " 
(Mark x. 13-16). "And they bring unto him one 
that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech ; 
and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And 
he took him aside from the multitude, and put his 
fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his 
tongue; and, looking up to heaven, he sighed, and 
saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And 
straightway his ears were opened, and the string of 
his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain" (Mark 

vii. 32, 35). 

Numerous other passages are found in the New 
Testament all testifying to the wonderful therapeutic 
eificacy of laying on of hands. Some of them are 
clearly indicative of the superiority of that method 
over all other processes of mental healing. Thus, 
we are told that when Jesus visited his native village 
he did not do many mighty works there " because of 
their unbelief." But Mark, in relating the circum- 



246 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

stance, adds this significant statement: "And he could 
there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands 
upon a few sick folk, and healed them'' (Mark vi. 
5). The true significance of this remark seems never 
to have been appreciated. It means that the unbehef 
of the people prevented him from healing them (auto- 
suggestion) or performing any other wonderful work 
in their presence, except when he laid his hands upon 
them. Of this, however, we shall take occasion to 
speak more at length at the proper time. 

Resuming the thread of Ennemoser's summary, 
we find that St. Patrick, the Irish apostle, healed 
the blind by laying his hands upon them. St. Ber- 
nard is said to have restored eleven blind persons 
to sight, and eighteen lame persons to the use of 
their limbs, in one day at Constance. At Cologne 
he healed twelve lame, caused three dumb persons 
to speak, and ten who were deaf to hear. The mir- 
acles of SS. Margaret, Katherine, Elizabeth, Hilde- 
garde, and especially the miraculous cures of the two 
holy martyrs, Cosmas and Damianus, belong to this 
class. Among others, they freed the Emperor Jus- 
tinian from a sickness that was supposed to be incur- 
able. St. Odilia embraced a leper, who was shunned 
by all men, in her arms, warmed him, and restored 
him to health. 

Remarkable above all others are those cases where 
persons who were at the point of death have re- 
covered by holy baptism or extreme unction. The 
Emperor Constantine is one of the most singular 
examples. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, had the power 
of assuaging colic and affections of the spleen by lay- 
ing the patients on their backs and passing his great 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC 247 

toe over them. The Emperor Vespasian cured ner- 
vous affections, lameness, and bhndness, solely by 
the laying on of his hands (Suelin, Vita Vespas.). 
According to Coelius Spartianus, Hadrian cured those 
afflicted with dropsy by touching them with the points 
of his fingers, and himself recovered from a violent 
fever by similar treatment. King Olaf healed Egill 
on the spot by merely laying his hands upon him 
and singing proverbs (Edda, p. 216). The kings of 
England and France cured diseases of the throat 
(goitre) by touch. It is said that the pious Edward 
the Confessor, and in France that Philip the First, 
were the first who possessed the power. The formula 
used on such occasions was, '' Le roi te touche, allez 
et guerrisses,'' so that the word was connected with 
the act of touching, — physical contact. In Eng- 
land the disease was called the King's Evil; and 
in France the power was retained until within the 
memory of men now living. 

Among the German princes this curative power 
was ascribed to the Counts of Hapsburg, and they 
were also able to cure stammering by a kiss. Pliny 
says, " There are men whose whole bodies are pos- 
sessed of medicinal properties, as the Marsi, the Psyli, 
and others, who cure the bite of serpents merely by 
the touch." In later times the Salmadores and Ensal- 
madores of Spain became very celebrated, who healed 
almost all diseases by prayer, laying on of hands, and 
by the breath. In Ireland, Valentine Greatrakes cured 
at first king's evil by laying on of hands ; later, fever, 
wounds, tumors, gout, and at length all diseases. In 
the seventeenth century the gardener Levret and the 
notorious Streeper performed cures in London by 



248 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

stroking v/ith the hand. In a similar manner cures 
were performed by Michael Medina, and the child 
of Salamanca; also Marcellus Empiricus (Sprengel, 
Gesch. der Med., part ii. p. 179). Richter, an inn- 
keeper at Royen, in Silicia, cured, in the years 181 7- 
18, many thousands of sick persons in the open fields, 
by touching them with his hands. Under the Popes, 
laying on of the hands was called Chirothesy. Die- 
penbroek wrote two treatises on it; and, according 
to Lampe, four-and-thirty Chirothetists were declared 
to be holy. 

The foregoing comprise but a small part of the 
recorded instances illustrating the efficacy of healing 
by touch, or laying on of hands, as practised in all 
the ages. But enough has been said to show that the 
process is something apart from suggestion in the 
ordinary sense of the term. It is neither oral sug- 
gestion nor any of its equivalents. It is not larvated 
suggestion, for that implies an element of deception. 
Nor is it mental suggestion in the telepathic sense, — 
that is, thought-transference at a distance or without 
personal contact with the patient. All these forms of 
suggestion are now well known to those who practise 
suggestive therapeutics; and constant efforts have 
been made to correlate the facts of mesmerism with 
one or another of these forms of suggestion. But 
practical mesmerists well know that there are phenom- 
ena arising from personal contact with the patient that 
refuse to range themselves under either of the known 
forms of suggestion. Hence the strength and perti- 
nacity with which they have held to the fluidic theory, 
the theory of animal magnetism. To do them entire 
justice it must be said that there is much to sustain 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC, 249 

the fluidic theory, especially in the absence of any 
means of disproving it, or of any more rational sub- 
stitute. In the first place it was formulated long 
before the potency of mental action upon the bodily 
functions was more than faintly recognized. Sec- 
ondly, the phenomena attending personal contact with 
the patient seemed to present some analogies to those 
of magnetic attraction and repulsion. Thirdly, those 
who opposed the magnetic theory offered no valid 
reason for so doing beyond the a priori assertion that 
it was '' contrary to the nature of things,'' — a very 
dangerous weapon, by the way, for a logician to 
handle in the absence of proof that he is thoroughly 
acquainted with '' the nature of things." Fourthly, 
when, at length, a substitute was offered in the newly 
discovered law of suggestion, it was found not to pos- 
sess the essentials of a valid working hypothesis for 
mesmerism, for that it did not account for all the 
facts. They had, therefore, a logical right to reject 
it, provisionally at least, whatever may be said of 
their own logical attitude in seeking to account for 
the unknown by referring it to something still more 
unknown. Be that as it may, they have the right to 
demand a substitute for their own theory which will 
at least render the latter unnecessary. 

It is my purpose in the ensuing chapters to offer 
such a substitute. Not, I hasten to say, one that will 
eliminate suggestion as a factor in any method of 
mental healing, — for that is obviously impossible if 
suggestion is a universal law of mental medicine, — 
but one that will reveal a form of suggestion, hitherto 
unrecognized, that is more direct and potent in its 
effects than any other form known to science. 



CHAPTER VII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE BY ANTS AND BEES 
BY MEANS OF PHYSICAL CONTACT 

The Psycho-Histological Theory of Mental Therapeutics. — Commu- 
nication of Mental Impulses by Means of Physical Contact an 
Elementary Fact of Psychology. — The Vital Units of Pluricellular 
Organisms habitually communicate by this Means. — Unicellular 
Organisms, grouped together in Colonies, communicate in the same 
Way. — Communication between Ants by Contact of Antennas. — 
Hypothetical "Langage Antennal " of Huber. — Antennal Com- 
munication among Bees. — Inadequacy of Tactile-Signal Hypothe- 
sis. — Thought-Transference the Obvious Explanation. 

BRIEFLY stated, my theory is that the effects 
ascribed to mesmeric methods, or, generically 
speaking, to the laying on of hands, are due to thera- 
peutic impulses conveyed directly from the mind of 
the operator to the diseased cells in the patient, the 
connection being established by bringing into physical 
contact the peripheral nerve terminals of the two 
personalities. At first glance this may be, to many, 
a startling proposition; but it is a question of fact, 
to be settled by evidence, and not a matter of philo- 
sophical speculation. Fortunately, the evidence re- 
quired in this case is very simple and easy to find, 
but two questions of fact being involved. 

The first is whether it is possible for one person to 
communicate intelligence, sensation, or therapeutic 



THO UGHT- TRA NSFERENCE 2 5 1 

impulses to another by means of thought-transference, 
rapport being estabHshed by physical contact. 

The second is whether the requisite mechanism 
exists to enable therapeutic impulses, thus conveyed, 
to reach the diseased cells wherever they may be 
located. 

In regard to the first question, I have already 
shown that the ability of sentient creatures to com- 
municate intelligence, sensations, or mental impulses 
by means of physical contact is one of the most ele- 
mentary facts of psychology. I have shown that 
physical contact of cell with cell by means of proto- 
plasmic threads or filaments is the one prepotent 
cause, or condition precedent to the manifestation of 
life and intelligence in all pluricellular organisms; 
that in the absence of these filamentary connections 
man would be nothing more than a congeries of cell 
tribes, — a huge amceboid mass, sentient, but not 
intelligent, — an aggregation, but not a confederation, 
of intelligent entities; and that mental unconscious- 
ness as well as physical insensibility is the sure result 
of withdrawing these filamentary lines of communi- 
cation between the cells. 

This, of course, does not prove that one person can 
thus affect the cells of another by means of personal 
contact, but it is here mentioned (i) because the 
power to heal disease by physical contact must neces- 
sarily include the power to reach and control the 
diseased cells wherever they may be located; and (2) 
because the effectiveness of the mechanism employed, 
whether it be actuated from within or from without, 
is due wholly to the fact that the sentient beings which 
compose it possess the power to communicate intelli- 



252 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

gence, sensations, or impulses to each other by means 
of physical contact. Besides, this is one of the steps 
necessary to prove my assertion that the ability of 
sentient creatures to communicate intelligence to each 
other by means of physical contact is one of the most 
elementary facts in psychology. 

In further proof of this I again refer to Binet's 
^' The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms.'' In speak- 
ing of the fact that unicellular organisms are often 
found grouped into colonies, each temporarily acting 
as a unit, our author says : — 

'' In the genus Volvox colonies are found of which 
the structure is very complicated. Such are the great 
green balls formed by the aggregation of diminutive 
organisms, which form the surface of the sphere, and 
are joined together by their envelopes ; they have each 
two flagella, which pass through the enclosing mem- 
brane and swing unimpeded on the outside; the en- 
velopes, each tightly holding the other, form hexagonal 
figures exactly like the cells of a honeycomb. Each 
volvox is at liberty within its own envelope ; but it pro- 
jects protoplasmic extensions which pass through its 
cuticle and place it in commimication with its neighbor. 
It is probable that these protoplasmic filaments act like 
so many telegraphic threads to establish a network of 
comrminication among all the individuals of the same 
colony; it is necessary, in fact, that these diminutive 
organisms he in communication with each other in 
order that their flagella may move in unison and that 
the entire colony may act as a unit and in obedience to 
a single impidse," (The italics are mine.) 

The conclusion at which M. Binet arrives is that 
the ability of micro-organisms to communicate intel- 
ligence to each other by means of physical contact is 



THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 253 

conclusive evidence " that their movements are reg- 
ulated by the action of a diffused nervous system 
present in the protoplasm/' 

This is a very just conclusion; for if it were not 
true, the axiom of evolutionary science, that '' the 
potentialities of manhood reside in the lowest uni- 
cellular organism/' would be but an empty phrase, 
devoid of any biological significance. In other words, 
there must be a diffused nervous system in the pro- 
toplasm of every unicellular organism from which 
to develop a structural nervous organism in the 
metazoan. 

Reversing the order of statement of propositions, 
the foregoing is the equivalent of saying, a priori^ 
that, '^ given a nervous organism, diffused or struc- 
tural, in any sentient creature, it follows that, other 
conditions being favorable, it can communicate intel- 
ligence to its fellows by means of physical contact. 
If, now, this proposition is sustained by a posteriori 
proofs, we may safely bank upon it as a fact in nature 
which demonstrates our thesis. 

Thus far, then, I have shown that the vital units 
of pluricellular organisms habitually communicate 
with each other, and that unicellular organisms, when 
grouped together in colonies, communicate with each 
other in the same way. It remains to show that some 
pluricellular organisms can and do hold intelligent 
communion with each other under identical condi- 
tions, namely, physical contact. 

To this end we will begin by obeying the scriptural 
injunction : ^' Go to the ant, consider her ways, and 
be wise.'' In doing so I shall avail myself largely 
of Romanes' so-called " complete resume of all the 



254 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

more important facts of animal intelligence '' ^ known 
to science at the time he wrote. From this we learn, 
first, that the sense of sight in ants is extremely lim- 
ited ; secondly, that they are destitute of the sense of 
hearing, and, thirdly, that they have some very com- 
plete and perfect means of communicating intelli- 
gence to each other. Their senses of taste and smell 
are very acute, and of course very useful to them for 
certain definite purposes. But they are obviously not 
adapted to the communication of intelligence to the 
extent required to enable them to conduct the com- 
plicated system of social and political government 
which distinguishes them. Sight, hearing, taste, and 
smell being excluded from consideration, there re- 
mains but the one physical sense of feeling to which 
we can ascribe the power to communicate irwtelligence. 
The one observable fact that gives color to this sup- 
position is that they bring themselves into physical 
contact with each other by means of their antennae 
whenever an emergency arises requiring a consulta- 
tion, or necessitating the issuance of a command. But 
the question at once arises. Is the sense of touch, per 
se, equal to an explanation of all the facts relating 
to the conveyance of the intelligence required to 
organize and administer a complicated system of 
governmental polity, to adjust social relations, to 
maintain discipline in war and enforce a division of 
labor in peace, to organize and maintain an army of 
offence and defence, to discipline its forces and com- 
mand it in action, to build bridges and construct pon- 
toons and ferries for the passage of vast armies over 
streams otherwise impassable, to invade successfully 

1 See ** Animal Intelligence/' Appletons' ed. 



THOUGHT" TRANSFERENCE 255 

the domains of foreign tribes and capture and enslave 
their inhabitants, and, finally, to inaugurate and main- 
tain a system of slave labor vastly more successful, 
and, let us hope, more humane, than any that has 
ever prevailed in the history of mankind? All this, 
and much more, is to be accounted for on some 
hypothesis involving the transmission of intelligence 
between the units of this vast and complicated organ- 
ization. I am willing, for the sake of the argument, 
to concede all that can reasonably be claimed for 
natural selection or survival of the fittest as a factor 
in the evolution of such a system. But there still 
remains the fact that in a system so complex, and 
involving so many factors, there must constantly arise 
emergencies requiring original thought, inventive 
adaptation of means to ends, and corresponding co- 
operative action on the part of numerous individuals, 
each with a separate duty assigned to him; all of 
which, humanly speaking, presupposes consultation, 
an interchange of ideas, and an agreement as to the 
part which each is to perform in the adaptation of 
means to ends ; and this, in turn, presupposes a com- 
mensurate means of communication. It seems obvi- 
ous, to start with, that no conceivable code of mere 
physical signals or sign language can possibly be 
adequate to the purpose, especially since the exchange 
of one or two strokes of their antennae is sufficient 
to organize an army and promulgate a plan of cam- 
paign. It seems equally obvious that the only alter- 
native hypothesis is that of thought-transference, 
rapport being established by physical contact in sub- 
stantially the same way that it is established between 
unicellular organisms. 



256 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

Unfortunately for our purpose, scientists have 
never studied the habits of ants with this hypothesis 
in view; and consequently the facts upon which we 
must rely are incidentally stated in connection with 
other matters. This, however, is not without its 
advantages from an evidential point of view. Ro- 
manes seems to have purposely avoided the question, 
and confines himself to the task of proving, through 
the writings of others (for example, Sir John Lub- 
bock), that ants have a means of communication, but 
that it is not through the sense of hearing. He ac- 
cuses Huber of dealing merely in " general state- 
ments as to ' contact of antennae ' without narrating 
any particulars of his observations '' (pp. 49 et seq.). 
The "Encyclopaedia Britannica " (art. "Ant"), on 
the other hand, states that Huber took great interest 
in the question, and so strongly was he impressed by 
the fact of communion by antennae " that he applied 
the term langage antennal '' to the intercourse. Be 
this as it may in regard to his interest in ants, he cer- 
tainly mad'e some ver}^ striking experiments with bees 
on the same lines. Quoting from Biichner, Romanes 
prints the following : — 

" Huber tested this communication by the antennae 
by a striking experiment. He divided a hive into two 
separate parts by a partition wall, whereupon great 
excitement arose in the division in which there was no 
queen, and this was only quieted when some workers 
began to build royal cells. He then divided a hive in 
similar fashion by a trellis, through which bees could 
pass their feelers. In this case all remained quiet, and 
no attempt was made to build royal cells; the queen 
could also be clearly seen crossing her antennce with 



THO UGHT- TRA NSFERENCE 257 

the workers on the other side of the trelHs/' ^ (The 
itaUcs are mine.) 

Romanes also quotes De Fraviere to show that 
bees '' communicate information '' by means of 
sounds, as follows : — 

'' As soon as a bee arrives with important news, it is 
at once surrounded, emits two or three shrill notes, and 
taps a comrade with its long, flexible, and very slender 
feelers, or antennae. The friend passes the news in 
similar fashion, and the intelligence soon traverses the 
whole hive. If it is of an agreeable kind — if, for in- 
stance, it concerns the discovery of a store of sugar or 
of honey, or of a flowering meadow — all remains or- 
derly. But, on the other hand, great excitement arises 
if the news presages some threatened danger, or if some 
strange animals are threatening invasion of the hive." 

It thus appears that, Romanes to the contrary 
notwithstanding, the '' shrill notes '' uttered by the 
news-laden bee bear the same relation to the " com- 
munication of information '' that the sound of a 
church-going bell bears to preaching. This, however, 
is a matter of minor importance in this discussion, for 
it is now well settled that whatever of specific infor- 
mation an ant or a bee desires to communicate to his 
fellows is transmitted, primarily, by means of physical 
contact in the manner stated. This is necessarily true 
of the ant; for, as I have already pointed out, no 
other sense is available for the purpose than the 
sense of touch or feeling. It is also a matter of doubt 
whether the bee is any better provided with the sense 
of hearing ; for, as Romanes tells us, — 

1 Op. cit., p. 159. 

17 



25 8 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

'' As in ants, so in bees. Sir John Lubbock's experi- 
ments failed to yield any evidence of a sense of hearing. 
But in this connection we must not forget the well- 
known fact, first observed by Huber, that the queen bee 
will answer by a certain sound, the peculiar piping of a 
pupa queen; and again, by making a certain cry or 
humming noise, will strike consternation suddenly on 
all the bees in the hive, — these remaining for a long 
time motionless as if stupefied/' ^ 

It seems probable, however, that the cry of queen 
answering to queen is merely an evidence of the fact 
that the queens are more highly endowed in this 
respect, as in many others, than the common bees; 
and the " humming '' which strikes consternation on 
the whole hive is easily accounted for on the theory 
of physical vibrations transmitted from one to an- 
other. Besides, the paragraph quoted above, from 
De Fraviere, fails to reveal any evidence whatever 
that the bees were affected in the least by the '* shrill 
notes " of the bee bearing the portentous message. 
It was only after a general interchange of antennae 
strokes that the excitement became visible. 

Enough has now been said to establish the fact, 
provisionally, that specific information is conveyed 
by these insects to each other solely by means of 
physical contact, — touching each other with their 
antennae. It remains to consider further the question 
whether the communication is made by means of a 
code of tactile signals, which has to be committed to 
memory by each individual, or by thought-transfer- 
ence, the antennal contact merely serving the purpose 
of establishing mental rapport between the commu- 

1 Op. cit., p. 144. 



THO UGHT- TRANSFERENCE 259 

nicators. It is conceivable that a limited code of tac- 
tile signals might be in use which would serve the 
purposes of ordinary routine life; but when emer- 
gencies arise which no sagacity can foresee, and which 
present problems of which no experience can aid in 
the solution, the tactile-signal hypothesis falls of its 
weight. 

I have space for but one illustrative incident. I 
select it, not because it is the best, for there are 
many recorded of a far more complicated nature, 
and involving more of co-operative action, but because 
it involves a situation that probably never was and 
never will be duplicated, and the antennal consultation 
was observed and recorded. 

A gentleman's apiary was invaded by ants. In 
order to prevent future access the four legs of the 
beehive-stand were put into small shallow bowls filled 
with water. But owing to defective arrangements in 
other respects, the ants found their way into the hive 
several nights in succession. Finally, it was thought 
that all conditions were perfect. 

" But once more the ants were found in the stand, 
and closer investigation showed that one of the bowls 
was dried up, and that a crowd of ants had gathered in 
it. But they found themselves puzzled how to go on 
with their robbery, for the leg did not, by chance, rest 
on the bottom of the bowl, but was about a half an inch 
from it. The ants were seen rapidly touching each other 
with their antennce, or carrying on a consultation, until 
at last a rather larger ant came forward and put an end 
to the difficulty. It rose to its full height on its hind 
legs, and struggled until at last it seized a rather pro- 
jecting splinter of the wooden leg, and managed to take 
hold of it. As soon as this was done other ants ran on 



26o THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

to it, strengthened the hold by clinging, and so made a 
living bridge, over which the others could easily pass." ^ 

It will thus be seen that the situation was unique, 
and the problem to be solved involved the co-operative 
action of several individuals, each with a distinct and 
separate duty to perform with intelligent reference to 
the general plan agreed upon at the antennal consul- 
tation. It may be objected that the essential thing 
was merely a case of bridge-building, which is com- 
mon among ants. To this it is replied that all emer- 
gencies requiring the building of bridges by ants are 
necessarily unique, for each involves the solution of 
fresh engineering problems, the selection of suitable 
material from an unfamiliar vicinage, and the united 
action of hundreds of individuals, each performing the 
part assigned to him at the antennal consultation. 

I submit that no conceivable code of mere tactile 
signals can possibly be equal to such an emergency. 
We must, therefore, seek a solution of the problem 
in some mental power or faculty, known to exist else- 
where, which is potentially equal to the task, provided 
it exists in the ant. In offering the hypothesis of 
thought-transference as a solution, I am not going 
outside of the region of known mental powers, nor 
of legitimate deductions therefrom. For I shall 
show, in the ensuing chapter, that thought-trans- 
ference between human beings, under conditions of 
personal contact, is a very common phenomenon ; and 
I shall claim the logical right to deduce from that 
fact my conclusions relating to the ant, on the ground 
that mind in that insect is the biological analogue of 

1 Op. cit, pp. 136, 137. 



THO UGHT- TRANSFERENCE 26 1 

mind in man. Having the same origin, they are gov- 
erned by the same laws of progressive development; 
and if one, at a certain stage of mental evolution, 
develops the faculty of thought-transference, it fol- 
lows that the other may do the same at the equivalent 
stage of mental development. And this is but an- 
other exemplification of the verity of the axiom of 
evolutionary science, that " the potentialities of man- 
hood reside in the lowest unicellular organism.'' 



CHAPTER VIII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE BY MAN UNDER 
CONDITIONS OF PHYSICAL CONTACT 

The Distinction between Thought-Transference and Telepathy. — 
The "Willing" Game. -—The Muscle-Reading Hypothesis. — In- 
stances of Thought-Transference which it does not explain. — 
Thought-Transference facilitated by Physical Contact. — The 
Spiritistic " Circle." — Experiments in Thought-Transference with 
and without Physical Contact. — The Nervous Organism of Man 
specially adapted for Thought-Transference, and hence for Heal- 
ing by Physical Contact. 

BEFORE proceeding to discuss the subject of 
thought-transference by human beings under 
conditions of physical contact, I wish to say a word 
in regard to terminology, especially in reference to 
the distinction that should be observed between 
the terms " thought-transference " and ^^ telepathy." 
The Century Dictionary treats them as synonyms, 
and much confusion in the popular mind has resulted. 
I do not hope, however, to reform this habit in the 
public mind. I merely wish to say that I shall use 
the word '' telepathy " strictly as it has been defined 
by the Society for Psychical Research, — namely, to 
" cover all cases of impression received at a distance 
without the normal operation of the recognized sense 
organs." " Thought-transference," on the other 
hand, will be used to cover such cases of transferred 
mental impressions as occur at a not appreciable 



THO UGHT- TRANSFERENCE 263 

distance, — as when the agent and the percipient are 
in personal contact, or within touching distance; for 
example, when passes are made in close proximity to 
the person of the percipient or subject. The terms 
" agent " and '' percipient " are applied in both 
telepathy and thought-transference, — the former to 
the one who sends the message, and the latter to the 
one who receives it. 

As before stated, when the old mesmeric methods 
were employed, there was constant, or practically 
constant, contact between the operator and his sub- 
ject. The result was that the higher phenomena — for 
example, thought-transference — were as constantly 
produced. It attracted the attention of the so-called 
" scientists " of the day, however, only to be met by 
wholesale denial and ridicule; and nothing worthy 
of the name was done by the latter to test the verity 
of the phenomena. Then, when the method of hyp- 
notism, or Braidism, was found to be a labor-saving 
process of inducing the sleep, it was largely adopted 
by mesmerists, the result of which was that the higher 
phenomena were rarely produced; and in due time 
thought-transference was relegated, in the public 
mind, to the domain of exploded humbugs, or, at 
best, the lost arts, and "science'' gained a tem- 
porary triumph. 

In the meantime, however, some one invented what 
is familiarly known as the " willing game." There 
was no claim that there was any mesmerism, hyp- 
notism, or magnetism in it; and so marvellous were 
some of the results that science consented to become 
interested in it, notwithstanding the claim that it 
demonstrated thought-transference. Dr. W. B. Car- 



264 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

penter, of London, was, I believe, the first to go 
on record with a description of the phenomena and 
a so-called scientific explanation. His description 
follows : — 

" Several persons being assembled, one of them leaves 
the room, and during his absence some object is hidden. 
On the absentee's re-entrance, two persons who know 
the hiding-place stand, one on either side of him, and 
establish some personal contact with him, one method 
being to place one finger on the shoulder, while another 
is for each to place a hand on his body. He walks about 
the room between the two * willers,' and generally suc- 
ceeds before long in finding the hidden object, being 
led towards it, as careful observation and experiment 
have fully proved, by the involuntary muscular action 
of his unconscious guides, one or the other of them 
pressing more heavily when the object is on his side, 
and the finder as involuntarily turning toward that 
side." ^ 

This conclusion was arrived at after a few experi- 
ments conducted in such a way as to exclude the 
possibility of disproving Dr. Carpenter's theory as 
to his particular experiments, or any other experi- 
ments conducted as he states above. There is, indeed, 
no possible doubt that experiments of that particular 
kind, and conducted in that particular way, are easily 
explicable under his hypothesis; for, as Dr. T. A. 
McGraw, of Detroit, later pointed out, it is practi- 
cally impossible for human nature to resist the temp- 
tation to assist (consciously or unconsciously) in 

1 This quotation is found in the Proceedings of the Society for 
Psychical Research, vol. i. p. i8. It is from Carpenter's " Mesmerism, 
Spiritualism, etc.," p. 54. 



THO UGHT- TEA NSFERENCE 265 

making the experiment a success. This is especially 
true of parlor entertainments conducted for the mere 
amusement of the spectators. 

Be that as it may, Professor Carpenter labelled 
his explanation '' muscle-reading," and muscle-read- 
ing it is to this day among those so-called scientists 
who seek to elevate their ignorance to the dignity of 
skepticism as to the verity of thought-transference 
or telepathy. Wherever personal contact is not ex- 
cluded, every possible phase of thought-transference 
is dismissed with the one phrase " muscle-read- 
ing " ! and all other phases of the phenomena are 
systematically denied. Thus, if a psychic correctly 
names every card in a pack, one after another in 
rapid succession, it is " muscle-reading " if she holds 
the hand of the agent; if not, it is trickery and leger- 
demain. If Mrs. Piper holds the hand of her sitter 
while she correctly relates the incidents of his past 
life, and tells correctly the names and ages of his 
family or friends, living or dead, it is ^' muscle-read- 
ing.'' If she performs the same feat without physi- 
cal contact with the sitter, it is fraud and collusion. 
This, with all its monumental absurdity, expressed 
and implied, is the present attitude of so-called 
science — or rather, let us say, of some so-called 
scientists — with reference to thought-transference 
and telepathy. 

Let us see what it implies. As the great Dr. Car- 
penter set the pace for that class of scientists, let us 
re-examine his words and compare them with the 
conclusions drawn by his followers. It will be ob- 
served that he carefully confines himself to one class 
of cases, namely, those wherein the psychic is re- 



266 THE LA W OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

quired to do something, — for example, walk about 
the room in search of a hidden object. The '' wilier s" 
place their hands upon his shoulders and accompany 
him about the room, strongly " willing " him to find 
the hidden object. Dr. Carpenter infers that the 
psychic was led to it '' by the involuntary muscular 
action of his unconscious guides, one or the other 
of them pressing more heavily when the object is 
on his side, and the finder as involuntarily turning 
toward that side.'' 

The theory, in other words, is that the psychic is 
pushed or pulled in the right direction by muscular 
action alone, voluntary or involuntary. And who 
will, or can, deny the justness of this conclusion 
drawn from the premises as stated by Dr. Carpenter ? 
But does it justify the conclusion that " muscular 
action" can be pressed into service to enable a psy- 
chic (normal acquisition of knowledge being out of 
the question) to give correctly names of persons, 
dates of events, denominations of cards, or to relate 
an anecdote that is verifiable only by subsequent re- 
search? The question answers itself; and yet all 
this is included in the " muscle-reading " hypothesis 
of the so-called science of the day. 

The Society for Psychical Research felt compelled 
to pay attention to the hypothesis for the purpose of 
showing that, whilst Dr. Carpenter's conclusions 
might be justified in the limited field which he ex- 
plored, it could not be pressed beyond its boundaries. 
To that end its committee cited numerous instances, 
in contact cases, that were clearly inexplicable on the 
theory of muscle-reading. But the efforts of the 
committee were chiefly directed toward proving that 



THO UGHT- TRA NSFERENCE 267 

the same things could be done without personal con- 
tact. In this, as all the world knows, — except the 
class of '^ scientists '' named, — they succeeded so 
far as to demonstrate telepathy beyond a peradven- 
ture. Unfortunately for my present purpose I am 
not in a position to avail myself of their labors. 
It would be a work of supererogation, at this late 
day, to undertake to demonstrate to readers of this 
book the verity of telepathy as a faculty of the 
human mind. Telepathy will, therefore, be taken 
for granted. 

What I wish to show is that thought-transference 
is greatly facilitated by personal contact; and as the 
labors of the Society for Psychical Research were not 
directed to that object, the illustrative incidents are 
not so plentiful as could be desired. Nevertheless, 
I hope to make up for it by appealing to the experi- 
ence of every one who has taken an intelligent interest 
in psychical research. 

I will cite one case, however, which will serve to 
illustrate my meaning. It is found on page 55 of 
Vol. I. of the Proceedings of the Society. It is 
stated as follows : — 

" My daughter, who had recently returned from a 
visit to her brother at his vicarage, asked M. B. (who 
was again seated with eyes bandaged and pencil in 
hand), 'Who preached at my brother's church last 
Sunday evening?' the answer to the question being 
known to my daughter only, M. B. wrote the first 
six letters of the name, viz., ' Westmo^ — ,' and then 
said, ' I feel no more influence.' My daughter said, 
' Lean your head against me.' M. B. did so, and then 
wrote the rest of the name, making it quite right — 
' Westmore.' " 



268 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICLNE 

It is clear that Dr. Carpenter would not have 
regarded the first part of this answer as coming 
within his '' muscle-reading '' hypothesis, for there 
was no contact whatever; and it would require the 
united efforts of a large number of his most devoted 
followers to believe that a momentary contact of the 
head of the psychic with the clothing of the '' wilier '' 
would enable her to complete the word by ^' muscle- 
reading," as Dr. Carpenter defined it. In other 
words, it would require a large amount of '' scientific 
credulity '' to believe that this momentary contact 
could convey from one to the other the remaining 
letters of the name, by ^' unconscious muscular action 
on the part of one person, and automatically inter- 
preted by the other.'' 

In strict justice, however, to those scientists who 
find a universal solvent for all contact cases in 
" muscle-reading,'' it must be stated that the above- 
named Society set the pace at the beginning of its 
labors by agreeing to relegate indiscriminately all 
contact cases to the domain of muscle-reading. It is 
needless to say that adherence to this rule has led the 
Society and its followers into innumerable absurdi- 
ties, and greatly retarded its own progress in the 
investigation of some important phases of psychic 
phenomena, — for example, mesmerism. It was a 
tub thrown to the scientific whale ; albeit it will yet be 
found that the tub, thus recklessly thrown away, was 
one of its most valuable assets. For if it Is true that 
thought-transference Is facilitated to an appreciable 
extent by psychical contact between agent and per- 
cipient, it is a fact In nature that science cannot safely 
ignore. Necessarily such a fact is invested with 



THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 269 

profound significance; and the Society for Psychical 
Research, when it assumed to ignore it in deference 
to an insensate prejudice born of profound ignorance, 
wronged itself and indefinitely retarded the progress 
of the investigation it was organized to prosecute. 
It is an axiom of science that no fact or phenomenon, 
however insignificant it may seem to be, can safely 
be disregarded in an inductive investigation of the 
problems of nature; for it often happens that a 
phenomenon which in itself is apparently destitute 
of scientific significance furnishes a solvent for the 
most important problems when considered in its rela- 
tions to other phenomena. 

It would not be difficult to show that the Society 
has seriously handicapped itself by ignoring phe- 
nomena that afford a complete and valid explanation 
of many important psychological problems. That, 
however, is a question of no practical importance to us 
in this inquiry, although the points wherein it failed 
will appear incidentally as we proceed. The question 
with which we are now concerned is. Does physi- 
cal contact between agent and percipient facilitate 
thought-transference? In presenting the evidence on 
this point I can safely appeal to the observation and 
experience of thousands who have come in contact 
with so-called spirit mediums. Any one who has 
attended an old-fashioned spiritistic seance will recall 
the fact that physical contact between members of the 
circle was considered an essential prerequisite to suc- 
cess in obtaining phenomena. Usually the whole 
company, including the medium, were seated around 
the table, each member of the circle clasping the hand 
of his neighbor on either side. Various reasons were 



2/0 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

given for this practice, but, whatever the reason 
assigned, each medium considered it an essential con- 
dition of success. Hence they were designated as 
'' circles '' ; and each member was strictly enjoined 
not to break the continuity of the circle. The fact 
that this condition was, for some reason, essential 
to success was demonstrated by the phenomena ; thus, 
as long as the circle remained unbroken, a good 
medium would have at her command the thoughts of 
all present, but the moment that the contact was 
broken anywhere in the circle the medium would im- 
mediately become aware of the fact and complain of 
*^ inharmonious conditions." Many mediums were 
able to locate the exact point where contact was 
broken ; others could locate a skeptic anywhere in the 
circle; and some w^ould be unable to proceed until 
the offending member was ousted from the circle. 

Spiritists, of course, will say that these phenomena 
had nothing whatever to do with thought-transfer- 
ence between living persons, and that it was all due 
to the limitations of spiritual intercourse. This ques- 
tion need not be argued in this connection, for such 
phenomena do not stand alone as evidence of the 
point we wish to make. The same phenomena occur 
in experimental thought-transference where physical 
conditions are the same. That is to say, thought- 
transference is almost invariably facilitated by physi- 
cal contact between the agent and the percipient. I 
have made hundreds of experiments with the view 
of testing this question, while at the same time elim- 
inating the possible element of muscle-reading. Thus, 
I assume that when a telepathist, under test condi- 
tions, correctly states the denomination of a card 



THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 271 

drawn at random from a pack, there is no possible 
code of signals, consciously or unconsciously em- 
ployed, that will enable one person to convey to an- 
other a statement that the jack of clubs has been 
drawn from the pack. And when nine-tenths of all 
the cards in the pack are correctly named in rapid 
succession, it is safe to assume that '^muscle-reading,'' 
in the sense in which Dr. Carpenter employed it, is 
ridiculously inadequate to explain the phenomena. I 
have repeatedly made the following experiment: 
Selecting a company of six or eight persons, I would 
securely blindfold one of the party to act as the per- 
cipient, then draw a card at random from a pack 
and place it on a table in full view of every one, except 
of course the percipient. Under such circumstances 
telepathy is comparatively easy, provided the mem- 
bers of the company are earnest and harmonious ; but 
I have invariably noted that where the percipient is 
new to the experiment his lucidity is greatly pro- 
moted by forming a circle of which he is a part. It 
is an exceptionally good psychic who can dispense 
with physical contact in the beginning of his career. 
The same remarks apply to phenomena other than 
card-reading. 

I once had the privilege of experimenting with one 
of the best telepathists in the United States. She 
could read in rapid succession a whole pack of cards 
without an error. During the course of my experi- 
ments I was induced to commit the unpardonable 
folly of trying to convince a so-called scientist of the 
fact that telepathy was a power of the human mind. 
In making the experiment I caused him to purchase 
a new pack of cards from a neighboring store, to 



272 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

shuffle them himself behmd the back of the psychic, 
who was also blindfolded to the entire satisfaction of 
the scientist. In pursuance of instructions, he drew 
a card from the centre of the pack and exhibited it 
to me. The lady was somewhat embarrassed at first 
and hesitated somewhat in naming the card; finally 
she asked me to take hold of her hand, whereupon 
she instantly named the card. This v/as repeated in 
rapid succession until the whole pack was exhausted. 
This feat having been performed without an error, 
the scientist was asked to express an opinion. This 
he did with great promptitude and alacrity by inform- 
ing me that it was all '' muscle-reading." Neither 
myself nor the psychic had anticipated such a reply 
under the circumstances, whereupon she offered to 
repeat the experiment without physical contact. The 
challenge was accepted and the scientist was allowed 
to prescribe his own conditions. The result was that 
the lady named more than half of the cards correctly. 
The falling off was doubtless due to embarrassment 
and over-anxiety, and partly to the fact that thought- 
transference is facilitated by physical contact. 

It should be remarked in this connection that these 
experiments were not made with special reference to 
testing the question of thought-transference by phys- 
ical contact. I could, however, fill many volumes the 
size of this with incidents demonstrative of the prop- 
osition that physical contact does facilitate thought- 
transference in cases where muscle-reading is simply 
out of the question. It remains to inquire what is 
the physical mechanism that enables this to be done. 
The answer is not far to seek, and the reader has 
already anticipated me, when I say that the nervous 



THO UGHT- TRA NSFERENCE 273 

organism of man appears to be specially designed for 
that purpose. Everybody knows that the nerves have 
their terminals in the cuticle ; that the terminal nerve 
cells are more highly differentiated than almost any 
others, especially those located in the tips of the 
fingers. They are differentiated with special refer- 
ence to the conveyance and reception of intelligence. 
The result is that when contact is made with another 
by the laying on of hands, a chain of communication 
is established between the subjective minds of the 
two individuals. It follows that physical contact by 
laying on of hands brings each and every cell of the 
bodies of both the agent and the percipient into poten- 
tial rapport, and that this rapport may be made 
actual by a proper mental effort. 

It will now be seen that man is endowed with the 
requisite mechanism for mental healing by means of 
physical contact. 



18 



CHAPTER IX 
CONCLUSIONS — THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL 

The Hypothetical Magnetic Fluid. — Histionic Suggestion competent 
to explain all the Facts of Mesmerism. — This Form of Sugges- 
tion the most effective as a Therapeutic Agency. — It may operate 
independently of the Volition of the Patient. — The Nerve Termi- 
nals the Means provided by Nature for the Transmission of Histi- 
onic Suggestions, — The Spinal Column the Guide to one Set of 
Terminals, and Pain the Guide to the other. — This Process of 
Treatment available to all. 

TT AVING now definitely ascertained the existence 
JLjI. of a law of mental medicine hitherto unrecog- 
nized, it remains to inquire what conclusions, practi- 
cal and theoretical, are derivable therefrom. The first 
conclusion is in reference to its bearing upon the 
question of mesmerism. It is obvious at a glance that 
the old theory of fluidic emanations, or animal mag- 
netism, so called, is, to say the least, unnecessary. 
And it is an axiom of science that an unnecessary 
theory is necessarily wrong. 

The theory of fluidic emanations has held its place 
in the minds of a large number of people simply for 
the want of a rational hypothesis that would other- 
wise explain the phenomena ; and this, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that it accounts for but a very small 
portion of them, and fails entirely in the most vital 
and essential particulars. Thus, the fact that con- 
centration of mind on the part of the healer is essen- 



CONCLUSIONS 27s 

tial to success reveals the fact that the process of 
healing is a purely mental one, and is not due to a 
fluidic emanation from the healer in the nature of 
magnetism. In fact, Deleuze, the ablest of the old 
writers on the subject of mesmerism, and an advocate 
of the magnetic theory, admitted that the existence of 
the hypothetical magnetic fluid was far from being 
demonstrated. Nor did he seem to regard it as pos- 
sible to demonstrate its existence. On the contrary, 
in his work on " Instruction in Animal Magnetism " 
(Hartshorn's translation), he begins by laying down 
thirty-four '' general principles " of animal mag- 
netism, upwards of twenty of which exclude the mag- 
netic theory. That is to say, the great bulk of his 
general principles presupposed a definite mental con- 
dition, and prescribed a specific mental attitude, on 
the part of the healer, as prerequisites to successful 
work. It is needless to say that these are conditions 
as far removed as possible from those which one 
would naturally suppose to be requisite under the 
theory of fluidic emanations. To say the least, both 
theories are unnecessary. Both theories, therefore, 
under the law of parsimony, cannot be true. We 
must, therefore, make a choice between the theory of 
fluidic emanations, or animal magnetism, and that of 
the transmission of intelligence by means of physi- 
cal contact, or histionic suggestion, — provided, of 
course, that one of the hypotheses is competent to 
explain all the facts. Otherwise both must be 
rejected. 

Without stopping to argue the question further, 
I assume that I have already shown that the hypoth- 
esis of histionic suggestion is clearly competent to 



2/6 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

explain all the facts of mesmerism, and remove all 
that is mysterious in its phenomena from the do- 
mains of mysticism and superstition. If it is capable 
of this task, it follows that all cognate phenomena 
are explicable under the same hypothesis; and these 
comprise a vast congeries of the most important 
psychic phenomena that have puzzled man and filled 
him with superstitious dread throughout all the ages. 

It would be a work of supererogation to attempt to 
classify all the various phases of these phenomena. 
The intelligent reader has already done so for himself, 
as the application of the principles is perfectly obvious. 
I cannot refrain, however, from remarking upon the 
subject in its relations to mental medicine. The first 
thing to be observed is that this law does not conflict 
with the psychological aspects of mental medicine as 
developed in Part I. of this book. That is to say, the 
Law of Suggestion is the dominant energy which con- 
trols therapeutic action in all cases. Histionic sug- 
gestion is merely another form of suggestion, and it 
is, I venture to assert, the most effective of all 
methods or forms of that agency. 

From a historical point of view the theory of histi- 
onic suggestion is invested with transcendent inter- 
est and importance. The wonderful cures effected 
through all the ages by the laying on of hands has 
hitherto found no scientific explanation beyond that 
afforded by the theory of oral suggestion. The same 
may be said of the phenomena produced by mesmeric 
processes. It is now seen, however, that a potent 
energy is released by physical contact, and made 
available for healing the sick. It is the most potent 
form of suggestion known, for the reason that it 



CONCLUSIONS 2yj 

may operate independently of the volition of the 
patient. This would seem, at first glance, to form an 
exception to the rule that the faith of the patient is 
always essential to success in mental healing. The 
fact is, however, that it is merely a question of degree. 
That is to say, the mental energy of the healer is 
transmitted directly or indirectly through the nerves 
to the seat of the disease ; and the active co-operation 
of the subjective mind of the patient is not always 
essential, a state of passivity being all that is required. 
This is easily secured in therapeutical cases; for one 
is not prone to active opposition to the restoration of 
his health, even though his judgment may regard the 
means as of doubtful efficiency. It was this fact that 
enabled Jesus, in his native village, to heal the sick by 
the laying on of hands, although he failed to do 
many wonderful works in that city " because of their 
unbelief.'' 

And this is why children too young to be affected 
by the ordinary forms of suggestion are peculiarly 
susceptible to mesmeric treatment or treatment by the 
laying on of hands. The old mesmerists, indeed, 
claimed to be able to heal domestic animals by mes- 
meric passes or by the laying on of hands. It was 
upon this assertion that one of their strongest argu- 
ments for the magnetic theory was built. '' It could 
not be a mental impression,'' they urged, " because 
neither animals nor young children were able to under- 
stand the import of a mental suggestion." But this 
argument falls to the ground in view of the well-ascer- 
tained fact that emotional and therapeutic impulses 
can be conveyed by thought-transference in cases 
where it is impossible to transmit an intelligible mes- 



278 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

sage involving the use of words. The Society for 
Psychical Research, in the course of their investi- 
gations, established this fact beyond a doubt; and 
Ochorowicz, in his monumental work on Mental Sug- 
gestion, has demonstrated the same proposition. 

It will thus be seen that histionic suggestion is 
by far the most powerful of all the forms in which 
that agency can be employed, because it is the most 
direct and most positive. 

The question remains, What facilities has nature 
provided for the transmission of histionic sugges- 
tions? The success which the laying on of hands 
has met with in all the ages would seem to indicate 
that the exact process of healing by those methods is 
a matter of indifference; that is to say, it would 
seem that physical contact with almost any part of the 
body would be effective. To a certain extent this is 
undoubtedly true. That is to say, contact with any 
nerve in the body places the operator in communi- 
cation, directly or indirectly, with every other nerve 
in the body ; and therapeutic impulses may therefore 
be conveyed from any point of contact. Nevertheless, 
there is always a right way and a wrong way of doing 
anything. It is obvious that the best way to convey 
a therapeutic impulse to an affected part of the body 
is to follow the lines of least resistance; these lines 
are undoubtedly those that reach the affected part 
most directly. It follows that some knowledge of 
anatomy is very useful to the operator in determining 
the best method of procedure. Fortunately, however, 
nature has provided a means by which any one 
may obtain a practical knowledge sufificient to enable 
him to practise histionic suggestion in the most 



CONCL US IONS 2 79 

efifective manner. A few words will make my mean- 
ing clear. 

Obviously the most effective method of reaching 
a diseased part is the most direct method; that is to 
say, given a diseased organ, the terminals of the 
nerves which reach that organ are the ones to be 
treated. 

Again, we are assisted in reaching a definite con- 
clusion by the researches of modern medical science ; 
and again a tribute of admiration is extorted for the 
manner in which nature has provided the means by 
which practice under this system is rendered avail- 
able to all. Turning to the great work of Dr. John 
Hilton, an eminent English physician, entitled '' Rest 
and Pain ; or. The Therapeutic Influence of Rest and 
the Diagnostic Value of Pain,'' we find that nature 
has provided a means by which the humblest cell 
in the human body can be reached with absolute 
certainty. 

Dr. Hilton points out that there are two ways of 
reaching each individual organ of the human body 
through the nervous system ; that is to say, there are 
two nerve terminals available for treatment by the lay- 
ing on of hands. One system lies along each side of 
the spinal column, the nerves projecting to the surface 
'' from the vertebral canal through the intervertebral 
foramina, close to the bones or the intervertebral 
substances." 

It is safe to say that, by digital manipulation of 
these nerve terminals, any organ of the human body 
may be reached directly. If the operator possesses a 
sufficient knowledge of the nervous system, he may 
of course save a little time and labor by selecting the 



280 THE LAW OF MENTAL MEDICINE 

right nerve at once. This, however, is unnecessary 
from a practical point of view, for the reason that the 
w^hole spinal column can be manipulated with but 
little extra trouble; and the beneficial effect of a 
treatment of the whole spinal column amply compen- 
sates for all the labor expended. Besides, it often 
happens that more than one organ is affected sympa- 
thetically, and requires treatment accordingly. Dr. 
Hilton also shows that each organ, each muscle, and 
each joint of the body furnish also a distribution of 
the nerves to the skin over the insertions of the same 
muscles. It is to this fact that the doctor alludes 
when he speaks of the diagnostic value of pain. It 
will thus be seen that nature has provided a sure guide 
to the peripheral nerve terminals of every organ of 
the human body. The doctor points out that in some 
cases the seat of the disease when in the muscles or 
joints may be somewhat remote from the nerve ter- 
minals where the pain is manifested. The treatment, 
however, whatever it may be, must be made where 
the pain manifests itself. It is needless to say that 
Dr. Hilton makes no mention of other than the or- 
thodox treatment of the old school of medicine. The 
applicability of his facts, however, to treatment by the 
laying on of hands is self-evident. All there is to do 
is to manipulate or massage one or both of the two 
sets of nerve terminals. The spinal column is the 
guide to one set of terminals, and pain the guide to 
the other. 

The question will now be asked. Is this process of 
treatment available to all alike ? My answer is, No ! 
That is to say, there are different degrees of efficiency 
in different individuals; the highest degree being 



CONCLUSIONS 281 

attainable by well-developed psychics. The treat- 
ment, however, is available to all in a greater or less 
degree; and practice will enable any one in a short 
time to attain a high degree of efficiency. The essen- 
tial thing to be observed in all cases is that the mind 
must be concentrated upon the work in hand ; other- 
wise the work is purely mechanical, depending for its 
efficiency upon mechanical stimulation of the nerves, 
the same as in ordinary massage. It is, however, 
more efficient than ordinary massage, because the 
effect is more direct upon the nerves involved. It is, 
indeed, in all its phases nature's remedy for disease, 
and it is instinctively employed in thousands of in- 
stances; for example, when the sympathetic mother 
soothes her nervous and restless infant by rubbing her 
hand on its bare back. 

It will thus be seen that the process is simple to the 
last degree, and requires no further elucidation to 
enable any intelligent person to put it into immediate 
and effective practice. 



THE END 



APPROACHING ITS SIXTIETH THOUSAND 

THE LAW OF 
PSYCHIC PHENOMENA 

A Working Hypothesis for the Systematic Study 
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A SCIENTIFIC 
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By THOMSON J. HUDSON, LL.D. 



THE success that '^ The Law of Psychic Phenom- 
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